Dilma Rousseff re-elected Brazilian president

Left-leaning President Dilma Rousseff has been re-elected president of Brazil, after securing 51.45% of votes in a closely-fought election.

An official count showed her rival, centrist candidate Aecio Neves, taking 48.55% of the vote.

Ms Rousseff, in power since 2010, is popular with poor Brazilians because of her government's welfare polices.

Both candidates made economic growth and lifting Brazilians out of poverty central to their election campaigns.

But correspondents say wealthy Brazilians were more likely to back Mr Neves, whom they regarded as someone to put the economy back on track after four years of low growth rates with the country now technically in recession.

Voting ended at 17:00 local time (19:00 GMT) in eight states, including Rio de Janeiro and Sao Paulo, and in the federal district of Brasilia. Polls closed in the northeast and central states an hour later.

The last ballots were cast in the western state of Acre at 20:00 (22:00 GMT). / Agencies