It's been a turbulent month. After weeks of see-sawing polls that made the second-round presidential vote too close to call, Dilma Rousseff edged out opponent Aécio Neves on 27 October by 51.6 percent to his 48.36 – the tightest margin ever in a Brazilian election. That meant 54.48 million voters for Rousseff and 51.04 million for Neves.

The election was divisive. Some analysts saw it as a class struggle. Working-class voters – grateful to Rousseff for her steady efforts to raise them out of poverty through the Bolsa Família income redistribution program – threw Dilma Rousseff makes a speech after winning the 2014 election their weight behind the left-wing president, who has taken on their troubles as her own. Middle-class and entrepreneurial voters, with higher levels of education and income, were solidly for the pro-business centrist Neves.

Some saw the election in terms of regional division. The northeast is generally home to Rousseff supporters; the south, southeast, and center-west support Neves. Neves also polled well in the largest cities, versus rural supportfor Rousseff

And some saw it as a political contest between the left- wing Workers' Party (PT) – in power for the past 12 years and carrying all the baggage of scandal and complacency – and the centrist Brazilian Social Democracy Party (PSDB), led by Neves ...

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