Brazilian president calls on rivals to 'respect' her election win

Less than a year into her second term, Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff on Thursday called on the political opposition to "respect" her election as head of state.

Speaking at a sports-related event, Rousseff stressed "respect for the winner", in what was widely interpreted to be a thinly veiled allusion to the conservative opposition's campaign to have her impeached.

While Rousseff won presidential elections in October 2014 by securing more than 51 percent of the votes, versus 48 percent for her closest rival, the difference was not enough to hand her a clear mandate, according to the rightwing opposition.

Emboldened further by an ongoing corruption scandal that has touched quite a few politicians from the ruling Workers' Party and other allied left-leaning groups, rival parties have been clamoring for Rousseff to step down, despite the fact that she has not been implicated in the scandal.

Rousseff has found it necessary over the past few weeks to repeatedly assert her victory and demand the outcome of the poll be respected.

"It's possible to suffer setbacks and obstacles, but all athletes get back on their feet and move forward. Sometimes you do not win on your first or second attempt, but you keep struggling to win, and you respect the results of the athlete who won," she said.

Rousseff spoke at a ceremony marking the 10th anniversary of Bolsa Atleta, a state program that sponsors athletes. The ceremony also paid tribute to the athletes who participated in the 2015 Pan American Games and the Parapan Am Games recently held in Toronto, Canada.

She praised Brazilian athletes for placing Brazil at the top of the medals ranking at the Parapan Am Games, with 257 medals, and third at the Pan Am Games, behind the U.S. and Canada.

She also stressed the importance of the athletic program, which currently benefits 6,335 athletes across Brazil, and has helped more than 17,000 over 10 years, by investing some 81.6 million reals (23 million U.S. dollars) a year.

Bolsa Atleta helps mitigate the lack of private sponsorship deals for athletes in less popular sports. Enditem