2018 Brazilian general election
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
General elections were held in Brazil on 7 October 2018 to elect the president, National Congress and state governors. As no candidate in the presidential election received more than 50% of the vote in the first round, a runoff round was held on 28 October.
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Presidential election | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Opinion polls | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Turnout | 79.67% (first round) 78.70% (second round)[1] | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Presidential election results | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Chamber of Deputies | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
All 513 seats in the Chamber of Deputies 257 seats needed for a majority | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
This lists parties that won seats. See the complete results below. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Senate | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
54 of the 81 seats in the Senate | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
This lists parties that won seats. See the complete results below. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
The election occurred during a tumultuous time in Brazilian politics. Narrowly re-elected in 2014,[2] President Dilma Rousseff of the centre-left Workers’ Party (PT), which had dominated Brazilian politics since 2002, was impeached in 2016.[3] Replacing her was her Vice President, Michel Temer of the centre-right Brazilian Democratic Movement Party.[4] Temer, whose age of 75 at inauguration made him the oldest to ever take office, broke sharply with his predecessor's policies and amended the constitution to freeze public spending.[5] He was extraordinarily unpopular, reaching an approval rating of 7% versus 76% in favor of his resignation.[6] Despite mass demonstrations against his governance, including a 2017 general strike and a 2018 truck drivers’ strike, Temer refused to step down and served the duration of his term in office.[7] Due to being convicted of breaking campaign finance laws, Temer was ineligible to run in 2018.[8]
The candidacy of Jair Bolsonaro, a controversial federal deputy from Rio de Janeiro known for his far-right politics[9][10][11][12] and defense of the former Brazilian military dictatorship,[13][9][14] overshadowed other conservative candidates. Noted for his vehement opposition to abortion[15] and same-sex marriage,[16][17] Bolsonaro joined the small Social Liberal Party (PSL) to mount his bid for the presidency, shifting the party's ideology in favor of social conservatism and nationalism.[18][19] Bolsonaro benefited from opposition to the former PT government and ran in favor of expanding gun ownership in response to high crime,[20] legalizing the death penalty,[21] and the privatization of state-owned companies.[22][23] For the position of Vice President, Bolsonaro chose Hamilton Mourão, a conservative retired general in the Brazilian Army.[24] During the campaign, Bolsonaro was the subject of widespread protests for his homophobic,[25] racist,[26] and misogynistic[27] beliefs. Former Governor of São Paulo Geraldo Alckmin, who ran as a member of the previously dominant centre-right Brazilian Social Democracy Party (PSDB), received the worst result for a presidential nominee of his party in Brazilian history.
Former President Lula da Silva, once considered one of the most popular politicians in the world,[28][29][30] intended to run for president as the candidate of the PT with former Mayor of São Paulo Fernando Haddad as his running-mate.[31] Polling taken during the campaign found Lula as the favorite in both the first and second rounds of the election.[32][33] However, Lula's 2017 conviction on corruption charges barred him from running.[34][35] Haddad, who was largely unknown to Brazilian voters at the time,[36][37] was chosen to run in his place, with Communist Party of Brazil (PCdoB) deputy Manuela d’Avila of Rio Grande do Sul serving as his running mate.[38] His major opponent on the left was Ciro Gomes, a mainstay of Brazilian politics who ran a centre-left campaign as a member of the Democratic Labour Party (PDT).[39] Following Haddad's advancement to the second round, Ciro did not endorse his campaign, though he did signal opposition to Bolsonaro.[40]
The campaign was marked by political violence, with Bolsonaro being a victim of a stabbing attack at a campaign rally in Minas Gerais[41] and supporters of both Haddad and Bolsonaro falling victim to politically-motivated attacks.[42] Fake news spread on popular messaging app WhatsApp was a focal point of election coverage, with disinformation spread on the app being blamed for influencing voting intentions.[43] In the first round of the election, Bolsonaro received approximately 46% of the vote to Haddad's 29%, with Ciro coming in third place with over 12% of the vote. In the second round, Bolsonaro defeated Haddad by approximately ten percentage points, with the deputy receiving over 55% of the vote to less than 45% for Haddad. Bolsonaro took office on 1 January 2019 as President of Brazil.