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Andre Penner/Associated Press
Updated: Oct. 4, 2010

Dilma Rousseff, the former chief of staff for President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva of Brazil and the candidate hand-picked to succeed him, is leading in her bid to be Brazil's first female president.
But election officials said Ms. Rousseff, an economist and politician, had failed to come up with enough votes in the early October election to avoid a second round. She had 46.8 percent of the votes to 32.6 percent for her closest rival, the former governor of São Paulo, José Serra. Ms. Rousseff needed to exceed 50 percent of the vote total to win outright.

The race will now be decided with an Oct. 31 runoff. Ms. Rousseff was denied her victory by a strong showing by a third candidate, Marina Silva, the Green Party candidate and a former environmental minister, who captured more than 19 percent.

Analysts expressed little doubt that Ms. Rousseff, 62, would prevail in a second round against Mr. Serra. Despite her lack of political experience and public charm, she has ridden a wave of prosperity and good feeling in Brazil under the leadership of Mr. da Silva, whose approval ratings hover near 80 percent.

After two four-year terms, Mr. da Silva is barred by Brazil’s Constitution from running for a third consecutive term — although he could run again in four years.

If elected, Ms. Rousseff will join a wave of elected female leaders breaking the gender barrier in the past five years, including Michelle Bachelet of Chile, Cristina Fernández de Kirchner of Argentina and Germany’s chancellor, Angela Merkel.

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