Ms. Dilma Rousseff won a convincing victory in the Oct. 31 runoff vote for Brazil's presidency. While that win — along with being the handpicked successor of outgoing President Luiz Lula da Silva — gives her a mandate, the new president is likely to find governing a challenge. Ms. Rousseff has the technical skills to deal with the pressing economic issues that bedevil any leader these days, but that skill set may prove less useful as she navigates the shoals of Brazilian politics.

Ms. Rousseff is an unlikely technocrat. In the 1960s, she joined Marxist-Leninist militant groups fighting the military dictatorship that ran Brazil; she has denied actually taking up arms against the government. She was later imprisoned for three years during which she was repeatedly tortured. Released from prison in 1972, she went to college and took a degree in economics. She was working as the state secretary of energy in the southern state of Rio Grande do Sul when she crossed paths with Mr. da Silva, who was looking for expertise on energy issues for his new government. She became minister for energy and mines in 2003.

While Mr. da Silva plucked Ms. Rousseff out of obscurity, most observers believe she repaid the favor with interest a few years later when the president's chief of staff was involved in a scandal that threatened to bring down the government. Ms. Rousseff stepped in as a replacement and got the government back on track. Forced to step down by term limits, Mr. da Silva selected her as his successor, making her the chief beneficiary of his staggering 83 percent approval rating.