‹ 2014  2022 ›
| ||||
| 2018 Brazil general election | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 28 October 2018 | ||||
|
|
|||
| Nominee | Jair Bolsonaro | Fernando Haddad | ||
| Party | Conservative Party of Brazil | Progressive Party of Brazil | ||
| Home state | Rio de Janeiro | São Paulo | ||
| States carried | 13 | 12 | ||
| Popular vote | 49,277,010 | 31,342,051 | ||
| Percentage | 46.03% | 29.28% | ||
| ||||
The 2018 Brazil general election was the election that elected the 56th Legislature of Brazil, helding on October 28, 2018. Each of the 26 cities elected the Prime Minister and congresspeople to the House of Congresspeople, the lower house of the Brazilian parliament. Throughout the campaign, the Conservative Party, led by congressman Jair Bolsonaro, appeared with an advantage in first place in virtually every opinion poll. On election day, the Conservatives won 463 seats, the Progressives 402 seats, and the Liberals 337 seats, with the majority in Congrss. In this election, the economy, corruption and security were central themes in the campaign of all three involved candidates.
The campaign was marred by political violence, with Bolsonaro falling victim to a stabbing attack at a campaign rally in Minas Gerais and supporters of Haddad and Bolsonaro falling victim to politically motivated attacks. Fake news spread on the popular messaging app WhatsApp was a focal point of election coverage, with misinformation spread across the app being blamed for influencing voting intentions. Bolsonaro defeated Haddad by approximately ten percentage points, with the Conservative receiving more than 46% of the vote against less than 29% for Haddad. Bolsonaro took office on January 1, 2019 as Prime Minister of Brazil.
Background[]
The Bolsonaro Phenomenon[]
.png){kind=link}
Congressman Jair Bolsonaro in 2016.
Jair Messias Bolsonaro was a congressman known nationally for his nationalist and conservative positions, his criticisms of communism and the lef-wing, and for several controversial statements, which earned him nearly 30 requests for impeachment in 26 years of terms in the House of Commons. It is also known for defending the gun possession and reducing the age of criminal responsibility. His political positions are generally classified as aligned with the discourses of the far-right, despite his own denial and claiming to be just conservative right. In 2016, Bolsonaro launched himself as a pre-candidate for Prime Minister of Brazil. On March 7, 2018, he took over as chairman of Conservative Party.
Progressive Party Nomination[]
Haddad being sworn in as chairman of Progressive Party and candidate for Prime Minister on May 30, 2018.
With incumbent Prime Minister Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva withdrawal from re-election, former São Paulo governor Fernando Haddad was nominated to be the progressive candidate in the election.
Electoral Process[]
In Brazil, the election of Prime Minister is popularly direct, unlike other parliamentary countries where the head of government is indirectly elected, being chosen by parliamentarians. The House of Commons, one of the oldest legislative chambers in the world, is made up of 513 Members of Parliament (MP), who are elected through district plurality vote.
Voting is optional, and voters must be registered in the Electoral Registry. Among the criteria for this, voters are required to be 16 years of age on polling day, have registered to vote up to 12 business days before voting, and be Brazilian citizens. In December 2017, the country had 45.8 million voters, but the number increased by 3.1 million between the call of the election, in September, until October 7, 2018, the deadline for being able to vote in the general elections.
Bolsonaro's Assassination Attempt[]
On September 6, 2018, Jair Bolsonaro was attacked during a rally promoting his election campaign. While being carried amid a crowd of supporters, the candidate suffered a knife blow in the abdomen by Adélio Bispo de Oliveira.
Immediately after the attack, Bolsonaro was taken to the Santa Casa de Misericórdia in Minas Gerais, where it was found that the stabbing had caused three injuries to the small intestine and one injury to a vein in the abdomen that led to heavy hemorrhage. Even with the seriousness of the injuries and with a great loss of blood, the presidential candidate managed to survive. In all, Bolsonaro performed four surgeries related to the damage caused in the attack.
Adélio was arrested in the act by the Federal Police and taken to the city's central police station. After investigation, the police concluded that Adélio acted alone in the crime, without being guided by a commander. In June 2019, Adélio's preventive detention was converted into an indefinite detention in the Campo Grande federal penitentiary in Mato Grosso do Sul. The knife used in the attack was collected by the Federal Police and is currently on display at the corporation's museum in Rio de Janeiro.
Results[]
Prime Minister[]
Voting took place on October 28, 2018. 454,493 electronic voting machines were installed, of which 1,956 needed to be replaced, according to the Superior Electoral Court. The greatest number of replacements occurred in the states of São Paulo, Rio de Janeiro and Minas Gerais.
Jair Bolsonaro voted shortly after 9:00 am at the Rosa da Fonseca Municipal School, in Vila Militar, in Deodoro, in the West Zone of Rio de Janeiro, accompanied by his wife, Michelle, wearing a bulletproof vest and reinforced security measures in the local, with the placement of bars and barriers and a greater presence of the Army Police, and the presence of the military and federal police. An hour before the start of voting, the site was inspected to prevent bombs or other explosives, using various equipment and tracking dogs. Voters who voted on the spot were also searched by the Armed Forces. Fernando Haddad voted about an hour later at the Brazilian International School, in Moema, in the south of São Paulo, accompanied by his wife, Ana Estela. Moments earlier, the intervention of the Military Police was necessary in the beginning of confusion outside the school, between supporters of Bolsonaro and Haddad. A small group of Bolsonaro supporters made videos and shouted slogans against the artists who chanted songs favorable to Haddad, while a “panelaço” (demonstrators hitting pots) took place in the buildings around the school. Laura Chinchilla, president of the Organization of American States' observer mission for the Brazilian elections, said that until noon the election had taken place with “very normality”, not expecting any change in the situation until the polls were closed.
At 7:25pm, Bolsonaro was elected Prime Minister of Brazil.
Parliamentary[]
All 1537 congresspeople and 162 senators were elected, with candidates elected by the units, each ranging from 16 to 140 seats. Elections for the House of Congresspeople take place using the open-list proportional system, with seats distributed using the electoral quotient. The party with the most votes for the House was the Conservative Party, becoming the second largest party in the house, trailing only the Liberal Party. Among the conservative elected congresspeople are Janaína Pascoal, the most voted candidate in the country's history; police officer Eduardo Bolsonaro, journalist Joice Hasselmann and activist Carla Zambelli. The youngest congressmen Kim Kataguiri and Arthur Moledo do Val of the Free Brazil Movement were elected by the Liberal Party. By the same party, 337 liberals were elected in the house, among them Vinicius Poit and Adriana Ventura.