PM Modi congratulates Dilma Rousseff on being re-elected as Brazil President

New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday congratulated Brazil's left-leaning President Dilma Rousseff on her re-election and said that he was looking forward to continuing working with her.

Modi posted on the micro-blogging site Twitter: “Congratulations to Dilma Rousseff on her re-election as the President of Brazil. My best wishes to her for the second term.”

In another tweet he said: “I look forward to continuing to work with Dilma Rousseff to strengthen India-Brazil relations in the years to come.”

Congratulations to @dilmabr on her re-election as the President of Brazil! My best wishes to her for the 2nd term. — Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) October 27, 2014

I look forward to continuing to work with @dilmabr to strengthen India-Brazil relations in the years to come.

— Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) October 27, 2014

Rousseff was re-elected in the tightest race the nation has seen since its return to democracy three decades ago, after a bitter campaign that divided Brazilians like no other before it.

With 99 percent of the vote counted, Rousseff had 51.5 percent of the ballots, topping centre-right challenger Aecio Neves with 48.5 percent, as per PTI.

Rousseff's victory extends the rule of the Workers' Party, which has held the presidency since 2003. During that time, they've enacted expansive social programs that have helped pull millions of Brazilians out of poverty and into the middle class.

The choice between Rousseff and Neves split Brazilians into two camps those who thought only the president would continue to protect the poor and advance social inclusion versus those who were certain that only the contender's market-friendly economic policies could see Brazil return to solid growth.

The Workers' Party's time in power has seen a profound transformation in Brazil. But four straight years of weak economic growth under Rousseff, with an economy that's now in a technical recession, has some worried those gains are under threat.

Rousseff and Neves have fought bitterly to convince voters that they can deliver on both growth and social advances. This year's campaign is widely considered the most acrimonious since Brazil's return to democracy in 1985, a battle between the only two parties to have held the presidency since 1995.

Neves has hammered at Rousseff over a widening kickback scandal at state-run oil company Petrobras, with an informant telling investigators that the Workers' Party directly benefited from the scheme.

Rousseff rejected those allegations and told Brazilians that a vote for Neves would be support for returning Brazil to times of intense economic turbulence, hyperinflation and high unemployment, which the nation encountered when the Social Democrats last held power.

After her victory, Rousseff called for national unity after winning re-election in a bitterly fought race that divided the country.

"I call on all Brazilians without exception to unite for the future of the country," she told supporters in a victory speech in Brasilia, as per AFP.

"I don't think this election has divided the country in two. They unleashed conflicting ideas, but with the shared desire for a better future for the country," she said, beside her popular predecessor and mentor Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva.

"This president is open to dialogue. This is the top priority of my second term," she added.

With Agency inputs