2018 Brazilian general election

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.

Background[edit]

The 2014 elections saw Workers' Party candidate Dilma Rousseff reelected as President in the second round with 51.6% of the vote, defeating Aécio Neves of the Brazilian Social Democracy Party who received 48.4% of the vote.^[2] Rousseff had first been elected in the 2010 elections, succeeding her political mentor, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, who was in office from 2003 until 2011.^[44]


However, on 3 December 2015, impeachment proceedings against Rousseff were officially accepted by the Chamber of Deputies.^[45] On 12 May 2016, the Federal Senate temporarily suspended Rousseff's powers and duties for up to six months or until the Senate reached a verdict: to remove her from office if found guilty or to acquit her from the crimes charged.^[46] Vice President Michel Temer, of the Brazilian Democratic Movement Party, assumed her powers and duties as Acting President of Brazil during the suspension.^[47][48] On 31 August 2016, the Senate voted 61–20 in favor of impeachment, finding Rousseff guilty of breaking budgetary laws and removing her from office.^[49][50] Critics of the impeachment saw it as a legislative coup d'état.^[51] Vice President Temer succeeded Rousseff as the 37th President of Brazil. His government implemented policies that contradicted the platform on which Rousseff's Workers Party had been elected, in one of the most controversial and heated political periods of modern Brazilian history.^[52]


Temer was barred from running for a full term in 2018. He had been convicted of campaign law violations in 2016, and was banned from holding any political office for eight years.^[53] He was likely ineligible for a full term in any case due to the manner in which constitutional provisions on term limits are worded. The constitution stipulates that if the Vice President becomes Acting President for any reason, it counts toward the limit of two consecutive terms. This applies even when the Vice President becomes Acting President whenever the President is abroad.