By Jomari Guillermo (media@latinospost.com) | First Posted: Oct 26, 2014 11:31 PM EDT

Getting a little more than half of the votes, Dilma Rousseff won a second term in what has been called as the "tightest" presidential elections in Brazil.

According to a report by the Associated Press, Rousseff secured 51.6 percent of the votes against her rival Aecio Neves who got 48.4 percent of the votes.

A separate report of BBC News quoted Rousseff as saying in a victory speech that she wants to be a "much better president." Despite the controversies and corruption allegations thrown at her during last year's World Cup, the president remains to be widely known among the poor, the report added.

In her speech in Brazil's capital Brasilia, she urged unity among her constituents to boost their country's future, BBC reported. Rousseff who was first elected in 2010 said that she is "open to dialogue" and vowed to push for political reforms, BBC added.

"My dears, my friends, we have arrived at the end of a campaign that intensely mobilized all the forces of this country... I thank every Brazilian, without exception," Rousseff was quoted in AP's report.

Rousseff also acknowledged her supporters and her mentor, Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, who also happens to be her predecessor, BBC stated. It was also noted that both Rousseff and Lula came from the Workers' Party.

CNN, on the other hand, said that Rousseff's rival, 54-year old Neves, an economist and politician, has already congratulated the newly elected chief. Neves, who is from the Brazilian Social Democratic Party, earlier promised to push for reforms that would lower inflation and encourage more investment in Brazil, CNN added.

AP quoted Neves as saying that he is "eternally grateful" to the "more than 50 million Brazilians" who voted for him. He thanked them for "allowing him to dream again." He said he "fought the good fight," adding that he has already "fulfilled his mission and he kept the faith," AP reported.

Neves is a former governor of the state of Minas Gerais. AP said that his term ended in 2010 with him earning more than 90 percent approval rating.

AP reported that Rousseff's win marks Workers' Party's "fourth-straight presidential victory." The outlet also noted that the victory means a continuation for the Workers' Party's "social transformation" programs that helped millions of poor people in the world's "fifth largest country."

However, the AP report also pointed out that Brazil, known as the "globe's seventh-largest economy," has consistently "underperformed."

Political analyst Carlos Pereira was quoted in the AP report as saying that the "macroeconomic policies during Rousseff's first four years in office have been very weak."

He also revealed that Brazil "is in a technical recession and public spending is out of control," as reported by AP. Pereira also predicted that it would be difficult for Rousseff to push for social inclusion while maintaining macroeconomic stability, the same report added.