Brazilian Elections
Next election · general election, 4 October 2026 · Capital · Brasília in the metro rankings →
Every Brazilian presidential election from the first Republic in 1891 to the 2022 runoff, and the parliamentary contests from the 1934 Constituent Assembly to 1990 — the Old Republic's arranged counts, the dictatorship's electoral college and the New Republic's two-round battles, stated plainly throughout.
Presidential elections
32
1891–2022 · next due October 2026
Parliamentary elections
14
1934–1990
President today
Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva
elected 2022 in the closest runoff ever
Years without a direct vote
29
1960–1989, under the military's electoral college
Presidential elections
All 32presidential contests, newest first. The Old Republic's machine counts and the dictatorship's electoral-college ratifications are labelled as such on every page.
The New Republic · 1989–2022
Direct two-round elections returned in 1989 with Collor's win over Lula. The real gave Cardoso two first-round victories, Lula's 2002 breakthrough began four straight Workers' Party wins, and the Bolsonaro years ended with the closest runoff in Brazilian history in 2022. The next contest is due in October 2026.
The military regime's electoral college · 1964–1985
After the 1964 coup, presidents-general were ratified by a purged Congress and later an electoral college, with the imposed ARENA majority guaranteeing the outcome. The 1985 college vote turned the weapon around: the opposition's Tancredo Neves won, and the dictatorship ended.
The populist republic · 1945–1960
Democratisation in 1945 brought Brazil's first mass elections: Dutra's win, Vargas's astonishing comeback by direct vote in 1950, Kubitschek's developmentalist 1955 victory, and Jânio Quadros's 1960 landslide — the last direct presidential vote for nearly three decades.
The Vargas era · 1934
Vargas was confirmed in office indirectly by the Constituent Assembly in 1934; the promised 1938 direct election never came — his Estado Novo coup of 1937 cancelled it and closed the Congress.
The Old Republic · 1891–1930
The First Republic's presidents were chosen on a tiny, literate-male franchise under 'café com leite' arrangements between the big-state machines, with open ballots and routine fraud. The chain broke in 1930, when the defeated Getúlio Vargas took power by revolution instead.
Parliamentary elections
The Chamber of Deputies contests from the 1934 Constituent Assembly to the first Congress of the restored democracy in 1990, newest first — including the dictatorship's imposed two-party years.
Abertura and the New Republic · 1982–1990
The controlled opening restored multiparty contests in 1982, the 1986 election seated the assembly that wrote the 1988 Constitution, and 1990 elected the first Congress of the restored democracy.
The two-party dictatorship · 1966–1978
The military regime dissolved the parties and imposed exactly two: the governing ARENA and the tolerated opposition MDB. The MDB's 1974 surge turned a managed safety valve into a genuine opposition — elections the regime counted on winning began to bite.
The populist republic's Congress · 1950–1962
Multiparty congressional politics under the 1946 constitution: the PSD, UDN and PTB triangle that framed every presidency from Dutra to Goulart, elected on a franchise that still excluded illiterate Brazilians.
Constituent assemblies · 1934–1947
The 1934 Constituent Assembly wrote the short-lived Second Republic's constitution; the 1945 election seated the assembly that wrote 1946's, and 1947 filled the remaining seats — the founding votes of two democratic orders.
The long arc in charts
Hover any point for the exact figure.
The winner's decisive share, 1945–2022
From the populist republic's plurality wins through the runoff era: Collor over Lula, Cardoso's first-round victories, four Workers' Party wins, and 2022's 50.9%–49.1% — the narrowest ever.
Turnout in the direct-vote eras
Compulsory voting keeps Brazilian turnout near 80% — among the highest anywhere for an electorate of 150 million.
Records & superlatives
Highest turnout
88.1%
1989 presidential election
Closest runoff
50.9%
Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, 2022
Biggest runoff win
61.3%
Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, 2002
Most first-round votes
57.259.504
Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, 2022
Years without a direct vote
29
1960 to 1989, from Quadros's win to Collor's
Workers' Party runoff appearances
7
every runoff since redemocratisation has featured the PT
How Brazilian elections work
Two rounds since 1989
The president needs an absolute majority; if nobody clears 50% in October's first round, the top two meet again three weeks later. Every election since 2002 has featured the Workers' Party in the runoff.
Compulsory voting
Voting is compulsory for adults aged 18 to 70, and turnout runs near 80% of one of the world's largest electorates — with electronic voting machines counting the result within hours.
Open-list fragmentation
Chamber seats are allocated by open-list proportional representation in state-wide districts, producing one of the world's most fragmented legislatures — every president governs by coalition.
The franchise's long climb
The Old Republic barred illiterate Brazilians — most of the country — from voting; women gained the vote in 1932, illiterate citizens only in 1985. Universal suffrage in Brazil is younger than the personal computer.