Steady in Brazil: Voters re-elect a president who has made progress

Brazil, the world’s fifth-largest country by area and population, completed the second round of its presidential election Sunday, approving incumbent Dilma Rousseff for a second four-year term.

It was close. Ms. Rousseff, leader of the left-wing Workers’ Party, took 51.6 percent of the vote. Her opponent, Aecio Neves of the center-right Party of Brazilian Social Democracy, received 48.4 percent. Her victory comes on the heels of the win in Bolivia of leftist President Evo Morales.

It was the Workers’ Party’s fourth straight presidential victory, with Ms. Rousseff’s predecessor, the charismatic Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, having served two terms.

The issues were chiefly economic. Ms. Rousseff won on a record of progress that included low unemployment, rising wages and declining inequality, a measurement that is playing a greater role in elections across the world. Criticism of Ms. Rousseff’s governance — and the major challenges she will face over the next four years — centers on Brazil’s low rate of economic growth and relatively high rate of inflation, at 6.7 percent.

Dealing with these problems will not be easy. The legislature, which meets in January, will include representatives of 28 political parties.

The United States might have liked to see Ms. Rousseff lose. She canceled a state visit to Washington last year upon learning that the National Security Agency had been bugging her government’s phones. President Barack Obama nonetheless congratulated Ms. Rousseff Monday on her victory.

Mr. Obama should consider spending more time on relations with Latin American countries such as Brazil, which he has ignored for the most part. Some observers believe that now — or after the midterm elections — would be the right time for a significant move by him to ease U.S. relations with Cuba, which would gain the United States much ground in that region.

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