BRAZIL RE-ELECTED PRESIDENT

Definitely, the voting history of Brazil never had performance as difficult to predict as the outcome of the past nationwide presidential elections. Despite a marginal difference in votes, the incumbent president Dilma Rousseff became the winner securing more than 51% of votes in the runoff election.

The opponents of Rousseff were seven candidates who had been collectively criticizing her instead of forwarding their own campaigns. Dilma Rousseff was the official candidate of the left-wing Workers' Party. She is the first woman president of the nation since 2010.

Her rival in the runoff was Senator A?cio Neves who had represented the Social Democracy Party (PSDB) defending the interests of the rich class of Brazil. The former Environment Minister in the cabinet of "Lula" (Luiz In?cio Lula da Silva - the first president from the Workers' Party in 2002-2010) and another presidential candidate Marina Silva had also encouraged her supporters to vote for Senator Neves.

Nevertheless, a political successor of "Lula" became the winner by a close shave of votes though. What does lie at the roots of the victory of the Left and what can one expect from the President in the following four years?

Since the triumph of the center-leftist Partido dos Trabalhadores (PT) (Worker's Party) with the rise of Lula Da Silva to the Presidency in 2002, Brazil has been an example of political stability and economic growth in South America besides showing an increasing participation in the main issues of international affairs.

During Lula?s years, Brazil achieves significant economic growth rates - average 3.6% - in the 2003-2010 period- while dozens of million leaves out of poverty thanks to Brazilian assistance programs such as Bolsa Familia that make a direct transfer of income from the state to families in poverty. Brazil also became more and more attractive to foreign investors that found it an important market for expand their business in Latin America; the Brazilian businessmen also benefits financially thanks to the economic expansion of the local market and the widening of the middle class. Another characteristic of the PT period was the reinforcement of the National State as a relevant economic actor not only regulating the formal chains of the economy by implementing monetary and fiscal policies but also developing several infrastructure works that impacted in the real economy.

The economic bonanza and the high rates of popularity of the government, especially in low and mid-low classes, transformed the traditional Brazilian political landscape into a strong hegemony of the PT Party and the lack of an articulate political opposition in the political system. In terms of international affairs, the presidency of Lula was the golden age. Brazil settled with India and South Africa the IBSA Initiative that promoted an alternative Global South vision of the international landscape focus on international development and South-South cooperation. Another key achieves of the Lula?s Diplomacy was the institutionalization of the BRICS Group (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa) and the efforts to mediate in the Israeli-Palestine Conflict and the Nuclear Iranian Issue - with Turkey - besides the legitimation of the regional hegemony in South America with his leadership in regional institutions such as UNASUR (Union of South American Nations) and Mercosur (Common Market of the South).

Dilma Rousseff inherited the economical and international achievements of former PT administration as well as the political capital from the PT Party and Lula's popularity. However, the first period of the Dilma Rousseff?s Presidency was far for being satisfactory. The President paid less attention to international affairs and focused his activities in the domestic realm. The main economic and political variables were deteriorated and the star of the Brazilian international activism was become weak. Politics scandals in senior PT officials and ministers, especially related with lack of transparency and corruption in the administration of public offices, and hard protests due to the over-expanding of money in the organization of several sports events - 2013 Confederations Cup, 2014 Football World Cup and the next Olympics -; and an increasing inflation affected the basis of the legitimacy of the government and the international image of Brazil.

The current results of the Brazilian election showed an increase polarization in voting preferences in addition to a progressive declined of the PT Party as the hegemonic player in the political system. However, the results offer a series of challenges for Dilma Rousseff's second term in domestic and international politics.

Regarding the first realm, there will not be a "conservative" or "neo-liberal" restoration soon but the Brazilian political system is moving forward but slowly, in a contrary direction of the PT party core policies. After years of economic growth and incorporation of millions of people into the middle class, the nature of the demands in the Brazilian society are changing. In the first years of the PT Era, the issue of inequality and the social ascendance were central to understand the political demands from the society. But after more than a decade the demands has changed. On one side, the Brazilian people want to maintain this achievements and could blame the government if central economic variables such as inflation, unemployment or national growth affected their daily life. However, this demand is not enough, they require a "qualitative leap" of the public offices based on effectiveness and transparency of the institutions. Furthermore, an increasing awareness about the importance of education and the fundamental role of the knowledge in the structure of the institutions is seen as one of the keys to accomplish it. The same "quality" demands are seen in other South American countries such as Uruguay, Colombia and Argentina. It is seems that the "era of social reformers" will led to the "era of social administrators" but without falling in the realm of the neo-liberal approach.

Finally, the foreign policy challenges should be central to the new period of Dilma Rousseff. Brazil needs to renew his image, boost his international presence and project more clearly his interests in the global arena. The sources of Brazilian power are well-known. Brazil is the regional hegemon in South America, one of the leading emerging economy along with China and India and possess numerous and attractive elements soft power such as the cultural diversity and richness. Despite of all this elements of power, it appears that during the last years Brazil has lost ground in the world politics. The activism of the Lula's years is a good example of the usefulness of the foreign policy that also helps the government to obtain more legitimacy in the domestic politics. In the current global environment, the foreign policy is not a waste of time nor a privilege of certain elites. It is a public policy. The international affairs and domestic politics are interconnected each other and their good or bad outcomes impact in both dominions. Regarding his international agenda, the more urgent priorities of Rousseff are the role of Brazil not only as a hegemon but also a positive leader in South America, the rearrange of the relations with US and the reinsertion in the global emerging landscape as an example of democratic and peace-oriented power.