Elections in Brazil
elects on the national level a head of state—the president—and a legislature. The president is elected to a four-year term by absolute majority vote through a two-round system. The National Congress has two chambers. The Chamber of Deputies has 513 members, elected to a four-year term by proportional representation. The Federal Senate has 81 members, elected to an eight-year term, with elections every four years for alternatively one-third and two-third of the seats. Brazil has a multi-party system, with such numerous parties that often no one party has a chance of gaining power alone, and so they must work with each other to form coalition governments.
Schedule
Election
Inauguration
Electoral systems
Deputies are elected to the Chamber of Deputies using a form of party-list proportional representation known as the "open list."Senators are elected to the Federal Senate with a plurality of the vote in a first-past-the-post system, which is not proportional. Three senators are elected for each state and for the Federal District.
In municipal governments, the city council is elected using an open list proportional representation system. Seats are allocated using a version of the D'Hondt method where only parties who receive at least V/n votes may win seats in the legislature. A presidential candidate in Brazil needs to gain fifty per cent plus one of votes to be named as winner.
Voting in Brazil is compulsory for all literate citizens over 18 and under 70, and optional for citizens who are aged 16 and 17, older than 70 or illiterate. Brazil introduced compulsory voting into its Electoral Code in 1932 and lowered the voting age from 18 to 16 in the 1988 constitution. The 1988 constitution also granted voluntary suffrage to the illiterate citizens of Brazil.
Brazilian voting machines
2018 general election
Presidential election
Parliamentary election
Election results 1982–2018
Brazilian legislative elections, 1982–2018| Parties | 1982 | 1986 | 1990 | 1994 | 1998 | 2002 | 2006 | 2010 | 2014 | 2018 |
| Workers' Party | 3.5 | 6.9 | 10.2 | 12.8 | 13.2 | 18.4 | 15.0 | 16.9 | 14.0 | 10.3 |
| Brazilian Democratic Movement | 43.0 | 48,1 | 19.3 | 20.3 | 15.2 | 13.4 | 14.6 | 13.0 | 11.1 | 5.5 |
| Brazilian Social Democracy Party | - | - | 8.7 | 13.9 | 17.5 | 14.3 | 13.6 | 11.9 | 11.4 | 6.0 |
| Liberal Front Party/Democrats | - | 17.7 | 12.4 | 12.9 | 17.3 | 13.4 | 10.9 | 7.6 | 4.2 | 4.7 |
| Liberal Party / Party of the Republic | - | 2.8 | 4.3 | 3.5 | 2.5 | 4.3 | 4.4 | 7.6 | 5.8 | 5.3 |
| Brazilian Socialist Party | - | 0.9 | 1.9 | 2.2 | 3.4 | 5.3 | 6.2 | 7.1 | 6.5 | 5.5 |
| Progressistas | - | - | - | 6.9 | 11.3 | 7.8 | 7.1 | 6.6 | 6.4 | 5.6 |
| Democratic Labour Party | 5.8 | 6.5 | 10.0 | 7.2 | 5.7 | 5.1 | 5.2 | 5.0 | 3.6 | 4.6 |
| Brazilian Labour Party | 4.5 | 4.5 | 5.6 | 5.2 | 5.7 | 4.6 | 4.7 | 4.2 | 4.0 | 2.1 |
| Green Party | - | - | - | 0.1 | 0.4 | 1.3 | 3.6 | 3.8 | 2.1 | 1.6 |
| Social Christian Party | - | - | 0.8 | 0.5 | 0.7 | 0.6 | 1.9 | 3.2 | 2.5 | 1.8 |
| Communist Party of Brazil | - | 0.8 | 0.9 | 1.2 | 1.3 | 2.2 | 2.1 | 2.8 | 2.0 | 1.4 |
| Popular Socialist Party | - | 0.9 | 1.0 | 0.6 | 1.3 | 3.1 | 3.9 | 2.6 | 2.0 | 1.6 |
| Brazilian Republican Party | - | - | - | - | - | - | 0.3 | 1.7 | 4.5 | 5.1 |
| Socialism and Liberty Party | - | - | - | - | - | - | 1.2 | 1.2 | 1.8 | 2.8 |
| Party of National Mobilization | - | - | 0.6 | 0.6 | 0.5 | 0.3 | 0.9 | 1.1 | 0.5 | 0.6 |
| Democratic Social / Reform Progressive Party | 43.2 | 7.8 | 8.9 | 9.4 | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| National Reconstruction Party / Christian Labour Party | - | - | 8.3 | 0.4 | 0.1 | 0.1 | 0.9 | 0.6 | 0.7 | 0.6 |
| Christian Democratic Party / Christian Social Democratic Party / Christian Democracy | - | 1.2 | 3.0 | - | 0.1 | 0.2 | 0.4 | 0.2 | 0.5 | 0.4 |
| Party of the Reconstruction of the National Order | - | - | - | 0.7 | 0.9 | 2.1 | 1.0 | - | - | - |
| Social Democratic Party | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | 6.2 | 5.8 |
| Republican Party of the Social Order | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | 2.0 | 2.1 |
| Solidariedade | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | 2.7 | 2.0 |
| National Labor Party / Podemos | - | - | - | - | 0.1 | 0.1 | 0.2 | 0.2 | 0.4 | 2.3 |
| National Ecologic Party / Patriota | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | 0.7 | 1.5 |
| Labour Party of Brazil / Avante | - | - | 0.2 | - | 0.3 | 0.2 | 0.3 | 0.7 | 0.8 | 1.9 |
| Humanist Party of Solidarity | - | - | - | - | - | 0.3 | 0.5 | 0.8 | 0.9 | 1.5 |
| Progressive Republican Party | - | - | 0.2 | 0.5 | 0.4 | 0.3 | 0.3 | 0.3 | 0.7 | 0.9 |
| Social Liberal Party | - | - | - | - | 0.3 | 0.5 | 0.2 | 0.5 | 0.8 | 11.7 |
| Brazilian Labour Renewal Party | - | - | - | 0.1 | 0.1 | 0.3 | 0.2 | 0.3 | 0.5 | 0.7 |
| New Party | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | 2.8 |
| Sustainability Network | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | 0.8 |
| Others | 0.0 | 2.8 | 3.7 | 0.7 | 1.7 | 1.5 | 0.4 | 0.0 | 0.7 | 0.7 |
Source:
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Referendums
Brazil has held three national referendums in its history. In the first, held on January 6, 1963, the people voted for the re-establishment of the presidential system of government, which had been modified by a constitutional amendment in 1961. A second referendum, as ordered by the Federal Constitution of 1988, was held on April 21, 1993, when the voters voted for a republican form of government and reaffirmed the presidential system.A third national referendum, on the prohibition of the commerce of personal firearms and ammunition, was held on October 23, 2005. The ban proposal was rejected by 64% of the electorate.