Rousseff, the hand-chosen successor to wildly popular President Luiz Inacio “Lula’’ da Silva, cemented her image to Silva’s, whose policies she promises to continue. She will become Brazil’s first female leader when Silva exits Jan. 1.

The new president will lead a nation on the rise, a country that will host the 2014 World Cup and that is expected to be the globe’s fifth-largest economy by the time it hosts the 2016 Summer Olympics. It has also recently discovered massive oil reserves off its coast.

Both Rousseff and Serra are economists by training.

“Starting tomorrow, we begin a new stage of democracy,’’ Rousseff, 62, said in the southern city of Porto Alegre, where she cast her vote. “I will rule for everyone, speak with all Brazilians, without exception.’’

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Looks like the South is leading where the North has failed. Congratulations to Rousseff, and congratulations to Brazil.