Brazil's leftist President Dilma Rousseff has placed first in Sunday's election but did not get enough votes to avoid a runoff and will face pro-business rival Aecio Neves, who made a dramatic late surge to finish a strong second.
After Brazil's most volatile campaign in decades, which saw one candidate die in a plane crash and another soar into first place only to collapse at the end, the result ended up being what was expected a year ago - a showdown between two arch-rival parties that have governed the country for the last 20 years.
Rousseff will spend the next three weeks fending off an energized Neves, a senator and darling of the investor community who blames her interventionist policies for a long economic slump and proposes free trade and tighter government spending.
Rousseff remains a slight favorite to win, due to her party's strong record of reducing poverty and creating jobs throughout its 12 years in power.
Seeking a second four-year term, she will also try to exploit a widespread perception that Neves' centrist Brazilian Social Democracy Party (PSDB), which governed from 1995 to 2002, is beholden to the rich.
In a speech on Sunday night, Rousseff wasted no time lashing out at the PSDB as the party of "recession, spending cuts and unemployment."
"The Brazilian people don't want ghosts from the past," she said in a hoarse voice.
