Dilma Rousseff has been elected president of Brazil to succeed Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, making her the country’s first woman to run the country as president. After 21 years of dictatorship, decades of super-inflation, a lifetime of international debt and the impeachment of an elected president, the country celebrates the 25^th anniversary of its democracy with what might have seemed unthinkable in the 80s – electing a woman as head of state.

Ms Rousseff, 62, was the preferred successor of President Lula, who is leaving after two terms with record 80%-plus popularity ratings. She has never before held elected office, and promised to "honour the trust" of Brazilians and reiterated her fundamental promise; the eradication of poverty.

"We must never rest while there are Brazilians going hungry." Dilma Rousseff

According to Ms Rousseff, her election as the country's first female leader is a sign of the democratic progress in Brazil, and her priority is now to make sure that such equality of opportunity between men and women became the norm at every level.

The daughter of a Bulgarian immigrant, she became a very active resistant during the toughest years in Brazil’s dictatorship, when she was jailed at age 19 and endured torture for over 3 years. She then continued her higher education as an economist and worked her way up through local and state governments in the Southern part of the country. She is twice divorced and in very good terms with both ex-husbands, and saw her first grand-child born during the presidential campaign, while recovering from Breast Cancer and chemotherapy.

She joined President Lula's cabinet as energy minister in 2003-5 and then became his chief of staff. She paid tribute to him as her mentor and said she would knock at his door for advice often, and was sure to always find it open. She mentioned his generosity and fairness among his main qualities.

After she is sworn in on 1 January, she is expected to continue his Policies, with emphasis on government efficiency, expanding the role of the state in some sectors, and improving the country's infrastructure. She will also continue to oversee a huge expansion of Brazil's oil industry, following the discovery of major offshore fields that should make Brazil one of the world's top 10 oil exporters.

Her victory comes as a release to millions of Brazilians who celebrated in the streets across the country after a very aggressive campaign of personal attacks that lasted months over the internet, where she was called a “terrorist” for her role in resisting dictatorship and reinstalling democracy, and was attacked by some members of the Church for rumours of her pro-abortion and pro-gay-marriage views, with priests ordering people to vote against her during mess.

In turn, rumours of her opponent Jose Serra’s wife having had an abortion were spread across the web making the question on the legality of abortion rise again. The country's national health system treats more women in hospital suffering from the result of clandestine abortions than breast cancer.

Jose Serra was defeated in a presidential run-off for the second time, after losing to Mr Lula in 2002. He congratulated Ms Rousseff and said he hoped she would work for the good of the country.

After Israel, the UK, Germany and Argentina to mention just a few, comes Brazil in the list of women-led nations. Although she was least popular among female voters, it will be interesting to see the impact it has on the role of women in boards of the country’s leading companies. Brazil already had more women starting businesses than men in 2009.