Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff was re-elected for a second term in a runoff election Sunday, the Globo network reported. In a race that had tightened considerably toward the end, the incumbent defeated former Minas Gerais Gov. Aécio Neves by a difference of about 3.4 million votes.

Leading a center-left coalition headed by the Worker's Party (PT), Rousseff won the confidence of 51.6 percent of voters, while Neves, of the center-right Brazilian Social Democratic Party (PSDB), came in at 48.4 percent. The two had been the strongest vote-getters in the Oct. 5 first round, which had relegated one-time favorite Marina Silva to the third place. Silva, of the center-left Brazilian Socialist Party (PSB), later declared her support for Neves in the runoff.

Particularly in televised debates held ahead of Sunday's vote, the tone between Rousseff and Neves had become increasingly harsh, and observers worried that the country showed much division between the incumbent, a close political ally of former President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, and her challenger. The candidates invariably accused one another of nepotism, corruption and inefficiency.

A closer look at individual electoral districts underlined just how sharply divided the country really was. Despite her national victory, Rousseff scored only 36 percent (against Neves' 64 percent) in São Paulo, South America's largest city, according to O Estado do S. Paulo. In one particular affluent neighborhood, Neves took 87 percent of the votes. The president's strength, on the other hand, was seen particularly in the poorer northern states of the country.

On her victory Sunday night, Rousseff took pains to stress the importance of a united Brazil going forward.

"I call on all Brazilians, without exception, to come together for the sake of our homeland's future," she said, according to Globo. "I don't believe that these elections have split the country in half. I believe they have stirred ideas and emotions that were sometimes contradictory but inspired by the same sentiment: the search for a better future."

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