The history of elections in Brazil is extensive, and historical records tell that the first election took place in our country still in the colonial period, under the colonization of the Portuguese. The functioning of elections in Brazil has undergone profound changes over time. The current model of the Brazilian electoral system was formulated with the enactment of the 1988 Constitution.
Summary
Since the colonial period, there are records of holding elections in Brazil to choose people related to municipal offices. The Brazilian electoral system has undergone radical changes throughout its historical phases.
At the monarchic period, elections were indirect and only became direct after an 1881 law known as Lei Saraiva. With the Proclamation of the Republic, Brazil became a presidential republic, and our country's electoral system worked in different ways in the First Republic, at Fourth Republic and on New Republic.
The current Brazilian electoral system was created in 1988, when the Citizen Constitution
. In the current system, the president, governors, mayors, deputies and councilors are elected for four-year terms. The position of senator, exclusively, is elected for an eight-year term. Currently, voting is mandatory for people aged between 18 and 70 years.History of voting in Brazil
Voting is a practice instituted in Brazil during the colonial period, when the country was still part of the Portuguese America. The first election in Brazilian territory took place in 1532 to determine the choice of people who would occupy the positions of the town hall and who would be responsible for the administration of colonial villages.
This election for the City Council took place every three years, and its realization followed the determinations of the Kingdom Ordinances, a document that compiled the laws carried out by the kings of Portugal. At the time the election was held, Portugal was under the effect of the Manueline Ordinances, of the king Manuel I.
In this election held in colonial period, the right to vote was restricted to calls menGood, a group of men who had some noble lineage or who owned some important business. This process was indirect and worked, in short, as follows: first, the voters present chose the voters, and this group chose some names that, at the end of the process, were chosen by prize draw. The positions in dispute were for judges, councilors and attorneys.
During the monarchic period, the electoral system was totally different from the one that operated in the colonial period. The functioning of this system was defined from the Constitution of 1824, bestowed by the emperor D. Peter I. This Constitution, for example, defined that voters were only free men and over 25 years of age.
The minimum voting age of 25 was not charged to married men, military officers, priests and alumni. Furthermore, the right to vote during the monarchic period was census taker, that is, a requirement was imposed (in addition to those mentioned) so that the person could have the right. In the case of Brazil, that limitation was income. So, only people who earned at least 100 thousand réis annually could vote.
Elections for the Legislative during the monarchic period worked as follows:
Voters with the minimum voting conditions were called provincial voters and elected the compromisers.
The commissioners elected the parish voters.
Parish voters elected the county voters.
Finally, the county voters elected the deputies.
This entire process was carried out to elect deputies. In the case of senators, the three most voted names were taken to the emperor, who would name one of them (the position of senator at that time was for life). In the elections of that period, freed slaves (ex-slaves) had the right to participate only in the basic instance of voting. Illiterates could also vote.
This system, however, underwent a sudden change in the early 1880s, when the Saraiva Law. The first profound change that this law brought was the transformation from indirect election to election direct. Thus, the entire system mentioned above ceased to exist after 1881.
The Saraiva Law also increased the minimum income requirement, which was changed to 200 thousand réis annually. Finally, there was a big change: the requirement to sign the electoral enlistment document. This new condition has been reflected in voter cadres for decades. Its impact was great, since illiterate people would not be able to sign the document.
This law caused the Brazilian electorate was reduced considerably. Thus, if before this law the voters corresponded to 13% of the population, after that, Brazilian voters came to correspond to only 0.8% of the population|1|. Only in the 1945 election, Brazil managed to recover the number of voters that there were in the country before the Saraiva Law.
This law is considered by many historians as a conservative reaction by Brazilian parliamentarians regarding the possible changes that were under discussion in society. With the abolitionist debate in evidence, the law is seen as a reaction to prevent slaves guaranteed their freedom from becoming voters.
Also access:Meet three great abolitionists in Brazil who were black
Shortly thereafter, the Republic was proclaimed in Brazil, and changes took place in all areas of our country, including the electoral system. The changes were planned in the Constitution of 1891 and determined the universal male suffrage for men over 21, excluding illiterate, privates and beggars.
An important feature of this Brazilian electoral system was that the vote was not secret. This opened up all sorts of manipulation of votes and intimidation of voters, as there was no possibility for voters to guarantee the privacy of their vote. The mark of the period of the First Republic (1889-1930) was exactly the rigged elections.
In the period known as It was Vargas, no direct elections were held in the country, but the electoral system underwent profound changes with the Electoral Code created in 1932. This Electoral Code established the JusticeElectoral, responsible for organizing elections. This code is also contained in the decree of the universal female suffrage, which made Brazil one of the first countries in the world to allow women to vote.
In 1945, Brazil began a period called Fourth Republic. With him, we had our first democratic phase with clean elections. In the Fourth Republic, there was universal suffrage, so men and women over 18 voted, except for the illiterate. This period had elections in 1945, 1950, 1955 and 1960. This process was interrupted with the 1964 coup.
With the end of the dictatorship, the Constitution of 1988 was drawn up, which defined the rules of the Brazilian electoral system. These rules are still in effect today. The first presidential election held after this Constitution was that of 1989. Then we had elections in 1994, 1998, 2002, 2006, 2010, 2014 and 2018.
Presidential Elections in Brazil
Presidential elections began to take place in Brazil, evidently after the Proclamation of the Republic and the choice of the presidentialism as a form of government. The first president of Brazil was the Marshal Deodoro da Fonseca, named provisional president and later indirectly elected president of Brazil. The first president elected by direct vote was Prudent of Morals, winner of the 1894 election.
As mentioned, the period of the First Republic was marked by electoral fraud. For fraud are included the manipulationof theminuteselectoral, a buying votes by granting favors, a intimidation of voters, etc. The intimidation of voters, for example, was a practice that became known as voteinhalter.
During this period, there were only three elections in which the presidential race was reasonably balanced:
In 1910, Hermes da Fonseca defeated Rui Barbosa with more than 60% of the vote;
In 1919, Epitacio Pessoa defeated Rui Barbosa with 71% of the vote;
In 1922, Artur Bernardes defeated Nilo Peçanha with 60% of the votes;
In 1930, Júlio Prestes defeated Getúlio Vargas with 60% of the vote.
In all other elections, the winner got approximately 90% of the votes (some even far more than that). This scenario of electoral fraud was one of the reasons that led to the emergence of tenentism, a movement of young Brazilian Army officers who demanded reforms in the country, including an end to fraud in elections.
The continuity of the system of direct presidential elections was interrupted with the rise of Getúlio Vargas to the presidency. Vargas became president after the 1930 revolution have deprived Washington Luis of the presidency. With this revolution, the winner of the 1930 election, JuliusAbout, was prevented from taking possession. Starting in 1930, for the next fifteen years, the only presidential election in Brazil took place in 1934 and was indirect.
After Vargas resigned in 1945, Brazil began its first democratic experiment in the period of FourthRepublic. This period extended from 1945 to 1964 and included presidential elections in the years of 1945, 1950, 1955 and 1960. Below is the list of presidential elections that took place during this period:
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election year |
Winner |
% of votes |
2nd place |
% of votes |
1945 |
Eurico Gaspar Dutra (PSD) |
55% |
Eduardo Gomes (UDN) |
35% |
1950 |
Getulio Vargas (PTB) |
48% |
Eduardo Gomes (UDN) |
30% |
1955 |
Juscelino Kubitschek (PSD) |
36% |
Juarez Távora (UDN) |
30% |
1960 |
Janio Quadros (UDN) |
48% |
Henrique Teixeira Lott (PSD) |
33% |
The presidential term during the Fourth Republic was five years, and there was no possibility of running for re-election. Another point was that the winner of the dispute was declared in a single round, therefore, only the simple majority of votes. An interesting issue in the electoral system at that time was that Brazilian voters also voted separately for vice president.
This system meant that, on a specific occasion, they were elected president of one ticket and vice president of another. In 1960, the vice president elected was João Goulart, that competed for the ticket of Henrique Teixeira Lott. As a result, president Jânio Quadros was from the UDN, and vice president João Goulart was from the PTB.
Also access:Learn about João Goulart's government after assuming the presidency of Brazil
The holding of presidential elections in Brazil was interrupted again when the military took power with the 1964 coup. Direct elections for president were abolished in the country with the decree of Institutional Act No. 2 on October 27, 1965. With that, all the “presidents” of that period were indirectly elected.
“Diretas Já” rally organized in São Paulo in 1984. This campaign was the Brazilian symbol for the right to vote. (Credits: FGV/CPDOC)
In 1984, it spread throughout Brazil to Direct Now Campaign, which emerged in support of the Constitutional Amendment Dante de Oliveira. This amendment defended the return of direct elections in Brazil. Despite popular engagement, the amendment was not approved. The elected president was Tancredo Neves, but his death caused his deputy, José Sarney, become president of Brazil.
During Sarney's government, the 1988 Constitution, the current Constitution of Brazil. It regulated the functioning of the electoral system that is still in force today. In 1997, the electoral system was improved with the Election Law. From 1988 until now, presidential elections have taken place in the following years:
election year |
Winner |
Shift |
% of votes |
2nd place |
% of votes |
1989 |
Fernando Collor (PRN) |
2º |
53% |
Lula (PT) |
47% |
1994 |
FHC (PSDB) |
1º |
54% |
Lula (PT) |
27% |
1998 |
FHC (PSDB) |
1º |
53% |
Lula (PT) |
32% |
2002 |
squid (PT) |
2º |
61% |
José Serra (PSDB) |
39% |
2006 |
Lula (PT) |
2º |
61% |
Geraldo Alckmin (PSDB) |
39% |
2010 |
Dilma Rousseff (PT) |
2º |
56% |
José Serra (PSDB) |
44% |
2014 |
Dilma Rousseff (PT) |
2º |
52% |
Aécio Neves (PSDB) |
48% |
2018 |
Jair Bolsonaro (PSL) |
2° |
55% |
Fernando Haddad (PT) |
45% |
During this period of the New Republic (started from 1985), two of the elected presidents underwent processes of impeachment, which led the vice presidents to assume the presidency of the country. Fernando Collor was removed from the presidency in 1992, and his deputy, Itamar Franco, took on. In 2016, Dilma Rousseff she was also removed, and her deputy, Michel Temer, assumed the presidency.
Also access:See which indirect elections took place in Brazil
How are elections currently working?
The functioning of the Brazilian electoral system follows the determinations of the CodeElectoral Brazilian, a document that brings together the Constitution, the Law of Elections and a series of other electoral laws.
THE electionpresidential here in Brazil happens regularly every four years. In it, the population also chooses governors, senators, deputiesfederal, state and districts (this goes for the case of the Federal District). Every four years, elections are also held for mayors and councilors.
In the positions of the Executive (president, governors and mayors), the dispute takes place in two stages: first and secondshift. Brazilian law determines that a candidate is elected in the first round if he reaches 50% + 1 of valid votes, if it obtains, therefore, an absolute majority of the votes. Blank and null votes are not considered valid votes and are discarded.
Also access:Understand the difference between blank vote and null vote
If no candidate obtains an absolute majority of votes in the first round, the two best placed go to the second round dispute, and the one who obtains the most valid votes is decreed winner. In the presidential race, only Fernando Henrique Cardoso won the elections he disputed in the first round.
In the case of senators, the election takes place by majoritysimple. Thus, the candidate (or candidates, if more than one seat is in dispute) who obtains a simple majority of the valid votes is elected. For the election of deputies (all of them) and councilors, the dispute takes place for a electionproportional, which varies according to the electoral quotient, that is, with the minimum number of votes that a candidate of a certain party needs to obtain to be elected.
The length of terms varies according to the positions. President, governors and mayors are entitled to a four-year term, and may run for re-election. In the case of deputies and councilors, the mandate is also four years, and they can be reelected as many times as possible. Senators, on the other hand, have a term of eight years, and may also be reelected indefinitely.
Voting in Brazil always takes place in the month of October, the first Sunday of the month being dedicated to the first round, and the last Sunday of the month dedicated to the second round, if necessary. The vote in Brazil is mandatory for citizens aged between 18 and 70 (with some exceptions provided for by law). Persons aged between 16 and 18, over 70 and illiterate are not required to vote. Entitlement to these is optional.
History of elections in the world
The development of electoral systems around the world did not happen in a uniform and linear way. Some places used a voting system, while others only developed a system later. Some civilizations developed an electoral system even in antiquity.
An example of this was the model that existed in the city of Athens during the period of Classical Antiquity. Athens is known for being the city that developed democracy, and the Athenian system it gave the citizen the right to be directly involved in the decisions that were taken. However, the concept of citizenship in Athens was very limited, and only free men, born in Athens and with military training were entitled.
With that, about 20% of the city's population had the right to vote, and the rest was excluded. The groups that did not have access to vote in Athens were women, foreigners and slaves. These elections were held, for example, to choose people to occupy military posts.
In addition to the Greeks, historians know that other peoples held elections. This is the case of romans, Hindus and Celts. The functioning, purpose and particularity of these electoral systems, naturally, changed from people to people.
Currently, the political system that exists in much of the world, mainly in the West, is the well-known democracyrepresentative. This system emerged around the 18th century and was inspired by Enlightenment ideals and events such as the American Revolution and the French Revolution. Due to Enlightenment roots, this system indicates, therefore, the need for the involvement of the people in the choice of representatives who will legislate or govern in their name.
Also access:See the differences between direct democracy and representative democracy
The representative system gained a lot of strength after the Second World War, mainly in Europe and North America. Some countries like StatesUnited, France, Sweden and Denmark, have traditional representative democracies. This trend, however, has lost momentum, as political scientists have pointed to the growth of regimes. authoritarian, ruled by autocrats.
This is the case in countries like Russia, Venezuela, Philippines, Turkey and Hungary. In these countries, point out political scientists Steven Levitsky and Daniel Ziblatt|2|, the representative democratic system collapsed when authoritarian politicians were elected to positions of importance (president or prime minister).
|1| CARVALHO, J. M. Citizenship in Brazil: the long way. Rio de Janeiro: Brazilian Civilization, 2004, pp. 38-40.
|2| LEVITSKY, Steven and ZIBLATT, Daniel. How democracies die. Rio de Janeiro: Zahar, 2018.
By Daniel Neves
Graduated in History
