‹ 2018 ![]() | ||||
PSDB Presidential primaries, 2021 | ||||
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Octuber 12, 2021 | ||||
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Nominee | Eduardo Leite | Jair Bolsonaro | ||
Home state | Rio Grande do Sul | Rio de Janeiro | ||
Electoral vote | 8,122,552 | 4,612,683 | ||
Percentage | 52,9% | 30,04% | ||
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Primarie election results map. | ||||
PSDB presidential primaries, 2021 it was a PSDB primary election, which took place from October 12, 2021. In this primary, party voters chose one of the candidates for nomination in the 2022 Brazilian election. The election will be disputed in 27 states with the largest DF.
Rio Grande do Sul Governor Eduardo Leite ended up winning the election with a majority. Leite got 52.9% of the valid votes, while Bolsonaro got 30.04%. The last two candidates (Mandetta and Vírgilio) obtained less than 15%.
It will be the first time in the party's primary elections where the date of the event will take place 1 year before the presidential elections in Brazil.
Background[]
Government Aécio Neves (2015 -)[]
The Aécio Neves government started on March 15, 2015 after being elected as president in the 2014 elections. He was re-elected in 2018 and took office in his second term on March 15, 2019. In the government he became one of the most famous presidents of the world, with a high popularity in his government. In his government, he participated in 2 international tournaments (Olympics in 2016 and the World Cup in 2022; it's still going to happen).
In his government, Brazil became one of the largest economies in the world, ranking third at the end of 2019. As a result, the government received more than 75% in good approval. He was the best approved president in the history of Brazil.
Municipal Elections, 2020[]

Marchezan Junior after the victory in Municipal Elections
In the municipal elections in 2020, the PSDB won 2003 municipalities/cities in Brazil, with a small reduction compared to the 2016 elections (when it won 2032 municipalities). Despite the insignificant fall, the party conquered cities such as São Paulo, Rio de Janeiro, Belo Horizoente, Porto Alegre,Salvador,, among others. In that election, the party managed to elect more than 40,000 aldermans.
Candidates[]
Officially, 4 people ran for the party's primary elections. Among them are: Jair Bolsonaro, Eduardo Leite, Luiz Mandetta and Arthur Virigilio. The candidacies were made official on May 19, 2021, confirmed by President Yeda Crusius.
Candidate Bolsonaro applied for the third time (2014, 2018 and 2022), he stated in one of the interviews that he does not stop running for the party because he ''want to change Brazil''.
Vice President João Doria, was a great figure for the party's primaries, but turned down the offer to resign soon after due to more focus on São Paulo politics
Debates[]
Since the 2014 primary elections, debates have taken place by the party's candidates in the primaries. In all debates, all candidates were present.
Date | Organizers | Mediators | Leite | Bolsonaro | Mandetta | Virgilio |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
September 9 | Rede Bandeirantes
BandNews |
Ricardo Boechat | Present | Present | Present | Present |
September 15 | Rede Globo
G1 |
Amanda Klein | Present | Present | Present | Present |
September 19 | TV Gazeta
Folha de S. Paulo |
Willian Bonner | Present | Present | Present | Present |
September 28 | SBT
UOL |
Carlos Nascimento | Present | Present | Present | Present |
Octuber 4 | RecordTV
R7 |
Adriana Araújo
Angela de Almeida |
Present | Present | Present | Present |
Supports[]
Throughout the dispute, various personalities declared their support for the candidates, including mayors, governors, deputies and senators from the party. In addition to personalities, some state party directorates also closed a question about the support for the candidates.
Party Personalities:[]
They opted for Eduardo Leite:[]
- Former presidential candidates:
- Fernando Henrique Cardoso: 33th President of Brazil (1999-2007)
- Aécio Neves: 35th President of Brazil (2015-)
- João Doria: Vice President of Brazil (2015-)
- Marco Maciel: Vice President of Brazil (1999-2007)
Governors
- Yeda Crusius: Governor of Rio Grande do Sul (2007-2015)
- Geraldo Alckmin: Governor of São Paulo (2006-2011)
- Pimenta de Veiga: Governor of Minas Gerais (2015-)
- Rodrigo Garcia: Governor of São Paulo (2015-)
- Beto Richa: Governor of Paraná (2011-2019)
- Izalci Lucas: Governor of Distrito Federal (2019-)
Senators
- Confúcio Moura: Senator for Rondônia (2011-2019)
- Arthur Vírgilio: Senator for Amazônia (2011-2019)
- Antônio Anastasia: Senator of Minas Gerais (2015-)
- Mariana Carvalho: Senator of Roraima (2019-)
- Mara Gabrilli: Senator of São Paulo (2019-)
- Irajá Abreu: Senator of Tocantis (2019-)
They opted for Jair Bolsonaro:
Governors
- Wilson Witzel: Governor of Rio de Janeiro (2019-) (Member MDB)
- Pinto de Luna: Governor of Alagoas (2019-)
- Raimundo Colombo: Governor of Santa Catarina (2019-)
Senators
- Flávio Bolsonaro: Senator for Rio de Janeiro (2019-) (Member PRENA)
- Luis Carlos Heinze: Senator of Rio Grande do Sul (2019-)
- Soraya Thronicke: Senator of Mato Grosso do Sul (2019-)
Result[]

Result of Map
For the seventh time, the population and voters of the PSDB choose a candidate for the party. In total, 15 million PSDB voters voted for their candidates, the largest in history by primaries, greater than 2014. São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro were the cities that had the most active voters.
Eduardo Leite was elected with more than 50% of the valid votes. For the first time, a member of the party from Rio Grande do Sul was elected as a candidate for the presidency of the republic by the party. For the third time, candidate Jair Bolsonaro loses the primary, due to not being very favourite, got only 30% of the valid votes being the best performance in the primaries. Mandetta and Virgilio got less than 15% of the valid votes, both winning only 1 state.
Party | Home State | Votes | % | |
---|---|---|---|---|
Eduardo Leite | Rio Grande do Sul | 8,122,552 | 52,9% | |
Jair Bolsonaro | Rio de Janeiro | 4,612,683 | 30,04% | |
Luiz Mandetta | Mato Grosso do Sul | 1,966,7121 | 12,81% | |
Arthur Virgilio | Amazonas | 651,472 | 4,24% |