Presidential elections in Brazil

Brazil holds a direct presidential election as part of the federal and state elections, which happen every four years counting from 1994 (before which the interval between elections was different), typically in October. The current law states that, for every Brazilian election, a candidate must obtain 50% of votes to win; if no candidate achieves that, a second round between the two most voted candidates is disputed within a month.^[1] Every candidate has a running mate that disputes the post of vice-president; prior to 1966, the vice-president was elected separately.

The country has held presidential elections since 1891, spanning over a period of several different republican governments and national constitutions.

Old Republic

According to the 1891 Constitution, the right to vote was restricted to men over 21 years old who weren't illiterate, homeless or enlisted-rank soldiers.^[2] The elections for president and vice-president were held separately and the same person could be a candidate for both.

Overall, only a small portion of the population voted.^[3] Since coronelism was common, the colonel elites often persuaded people to vote for certain candidates.

1891

	Winner	Opponent
Candidate	Marshal Deodoro da Fonseca	Prudente de Morais (PRP)
Votes	129 (55.13%)	97 (41.45%)

1894

	Winner	Opponent
Candidate	Prudente de Morais (PR Federal)	Afonso Pena (PRM)
Votes	276,583 (80.12%)	38,291 (11.09%)

1898

	Winner	Opponent
Candidate	Campos Sales (PRP)	100px Lauro Sodré (PR Federal)
Votes	420,286 (90.93%)	38,929 (8.42%)

1902

	Winner	Opponent
Candidate	Rodrigues Alves (PRP)	100px Quintino Bocaiuva (PRF)
Votes	592,039 (91.69%)	42,542 (6.59%)

1906

	Winner	Opponent
Candidate	Afonso Pena (PRM)	100px Lauro Sodré (PR Federal)
Votes	288,285 (97.92%)	4,865 (1.65%)

1910

	Winner	Opponent
Candidate	Marshal Hermes da Fonseca (PRC)	100px Ruy Barbosa (PRP)
Votes	403,867 (64.35%)	222,822 (35.51%)

1914

	Winner	Opponent
Candidate	Venceslau Brás (PRM)	100px Ruy Barbosa (PRL)
Votes	532,107 (91.59%)	47,782 (8.22%)

1918

	Winner	Opponent
Candidate	Rodrigues Alves (PRP)	Nilo Peçanha (PRF)
Votes	386,467 (99%)	1,768 (0.45%)

1919

Since Rodrigues Alves, the elected president, died before taking office, a new election was held in 1919.

	Winner	Opponent
Candidate	Epitácio Pessoa (PRM)	100px Ruy Barbosa (PRP)
Votes	286,373 (70.96%)	116,414 (28.85%)

1922

	Winner	Opponent
Candidate	Artur Bernardes (PRM)	Nilo Peçanha (PRF)
Votes	466,877 (59.46%)	317,714 (40.46%)

1926

	Winner	Opponent
Candidate	Washington Luís (PRP)	100px Joaquim Assis Brasil
Votes	688 528 (99.70%)	1,116 (0.16%)

1930

	Winner	Opponent
Candidate	100px Júlio Prestes (PRP)	Getúlio Vargas (AL)
Votes	1 091 709 (59.39%)	742 794 (40.41%)

Vargas Era

With the Revolution of 1930, the country was governed until 1934 by a military triunvirate, while Getúlio Vargas was the de facto president (officially President of the Provisional Government).^[4] The new Constitution predicted that the first president would be chosen by the Congress in an indirect election.

1934

	Winner	Opponent
Candidate	100px Getúlio Vargas (AL)	100px Borges de Medeiros (PRR)
Votes	175 (70.58%)	59 (23.79%)

A second election was scheduled for 1938, but it didn't happen due to the 1937 Revolution, under which another Constitution was written.

Second Republic

After Vargas was forced to resign in 1945, a new state was born under a democratic constitution written in 1946. The new law predicted direct elections every 5 years for both president and vice-president and women could now vote.

1945

	Winner	Opponent
Candidate	Marhsal Eurico Gaspar (PSD)	100px Air Marshal Eduardo Gomes (UDN)
Votes	3,251,507 (55.39%)	2,039,341 (34.74%)

1950

	Winner	Opponent
Candidate	100px Getúlio Vargas (PTB)	100px Air Marshal Eduardo Gomes (UDN)
Votes	3,849,040 (48.73%)	2,342,384 (29.66%)

1955

	Winner	Opponent
Candidate	Juscelino Kubitschek (PSD)	100px Marshal Juarez Távora (PDC)
Votes	3,077,411 (35.68%)	2,610,462 (30.27%)

1960

	Winner	Opponent
Candidate	Jânio Quadros (PTN)	100px Marshal Henrique Teixeira Lott (PSD)
Votes	5,636,623 (48.26%)	3,846,825 (32.94%)

Military rule

With the 1964 military coup d'état, the direct democracy ended and presidents (who were all members of military) were now elected by the Congress.^[5] The interval between elections was irregular.

1964

	Winner	Opponent
Candidate	Marshal Castelo Branco	100px Marshal Juarez Távora (PDC)
Votes	361 (98.63%)	3 (0.82%)

1966

With the two-party system, only ARENA and MDB could dispute elections. President and vice-president were now part of the same ticket. The 1966 and 1969 elections had only one candidate.

	Winner	Opponent
Candidate	Marshal Costa e Silva (ARENA)	none
Votes	294 (100%)	–

1969

First election under the 1967 Constitution.

	Winner	Opponent
Candidate	General Emílio Médici (ARENA)	none
Votes	293 (100%)	–

1974

	Winner	Opponent
Candidate	General Ernesto Geisel (ARENA)	100px Ulysses Guimarães (MDB)
Votes	400 (84.03%)	76 (15.97%)

1978

	Winner	Opponent
Candidate	General João Figueiredo (ARENA)	100px General Euler Monteiro (MDB)
Votes	355 (61.20%)	225 (38.79%)

1985

The two-party system ended in 1979 and many other parties were created. This was the last election under the military regime.

	Winner	Opponent
Candidate	100px Tancredo Neves (MDB)	100px Paulo Maluf (PDS)
Votes	480 (72.73%)	180 (27.27%)

New Republic

Under the current Constitution enacted in October 1988, elections are held every 4 years (except for the first one, which was held five years before the second to match the centenary of the Proclamation of the Republic) and citizens elect a ticket for both president and vice-president. Voting is mandatory for men and women between 18 and 70 years old who are not illiterate and optional for people aged 16–17 and over 70 and illiterates.<refname=elect/>

1989

	Winner	Opponent
Candidate	100px Fernando Collor (PRN)	100px Lula (PT)
Votes (1st round)	20,611,011 (30.47%)	11,622,673 (17.18%)
Votes (2nd round)	35,089,998 (53.03%)	31,076,364 (46.97%)

1994

	Winner	Opponent
Candidate	100px FHC (PSDB)	100px Lula (PT)
Votes (1st round)	34,314,961 (54.24%)	17,112,127 (27.07%)
Votes (2nd round)	–	–

1998

	Winner	Opponent
Candidate	100px FHC (PSDB)	100px Lula (PT)
Votes (1st round)	35,936,540 (53.06%)	21,475,218 (31.71%)
Votes (2nd round)	–	–

2002

	Winner	Opponent
Candidate	100px Lula (PT)	José Serra (PSDB)
Votes (1st round)	39,455,233 (46.44%)	19,705,445 (23.19%)
Votes (2nd round)	52,793,364 (61.27%)	33,370,739 (38.72%)

2006

	Winner	Opponent
Candidate	100px Lula (PT)	Geraldo Alckimin (PSDB)
Votes (1st round)	46,662,365 (48.61%)	39,968,369 (41.64%)
Votes (2nd round)	58,295,042 (60.83%)	37,543,178 (39.17%)

2010

	Winner	Opponent
Candidate	100px Dilma Rousseff (PT)	José Serra (PSDB)
Votes (1st round)	47,651,434 (46.91%)	33,132,283 (32.61%)
Votes (2nd round)	55,752,529 (56.05%)	43,711,388 (43.95%)

2014

	Winner	Opponent
Candidate	Dilma Rousseff (PT)	Aécio Neves (PSDB)
Votes (1st round)	43,267,668 (41.59%)	34,897,211 (33.55%)
Votes (2nd round)	54,501,118 (51.64%)	51,041,155 (48.36%)

2018

	Winner	Opponent
Candidate	100px Jair Bolsonaro (PSL)	100px Fernando Haddad (PT)
Votes (1st round)	49,276,990 (46.03%)	31,342,005 (29.28%)
Votes (2nd round)	TBD	TBD

References

↑ Eleições 2018
↑ Brazilian Constitution of Brazil, 1891. Political Database of the Americas.
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↑ "A Revolução de 1930: Principais fatos da Revolução de 1930"
↑ Ato Institucional Nº 1, 9 de abril de 1964