Dilma Rousseff Dilma Rousseff Dilma Vana Rousseff (, often known mononymously as Dilma; born 14 December 1947) is a Brazilian economist and politician who served as the 36th President of Brazil, holding the position from 2011 until her impeachment and removal from office on 31 August 2016, becoming the first democratically-elected female president in the world to be impeached and removed. She was the first woman to hold the Brazilian presidency and had previously served as Chief of Staff to former president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva from 2005 to 2010. The daughter of a Bulgarian immigrant, Rousseff was raised in an
Dilma Rousseff presidential candidate for the Workers' Party in the 2010 presidential election. At that time, former São Paulo State Governor José Serra, candidate for the center-right opposition bloc, had been at the top of the polls for over two years. With promises of maintaining Lula's popular policies, Rousseff was able to surpass Serra in all the polls by late July. In spite of maintaining a wide margin over him, she did not receive 50% of valid votes in the first round and had to face a run-off against Serra on 31 October, when she was elected with over 56% of the