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 (Congresso Nacional) has two chambers. The Chamber of Deputies (Câmara dos Deputados) has 513 members, elected to a four-year term by proportional representation. The Federal Senate (Senado Federal) has 81 members, elected to an eight-year term, with elections every four years for alternatively one-third and two-thirds of the seats. Brazil has a multi-party system with a high effective number of parties and political fragmentation. Often no one party has a chance of gaining a majority alone, and so they must work with each other to form coalition governments.
Latest election
Presidential election
Parliamentary election Chamber of Deputies
Federal Senate
Schedule
Election + Basic rotation of Brazilian general elections Year 2022 2023 2024 2025 2026 Type Presidential year Off-year Local year Off-year Presidential year President colspan=3 Senate colspan=3 Chamber colspan=3 Governor colspan=3 Legislative Assemblies colspan=3 Mayor colspan=2 colspan=2 Municipal Chambers colspan=2 colspan=2
Inauguration Position 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023 2024 2025 2026 2027Type Presidential (January)National Congress (February)Gubernatorial (January)States and Federal District Parliaments (January) None Mayors (January)City Councils (January) None Presidential (January)National Congress (February)Gubernatorial (January)States and Federal District Parliaments (January) None Mayors (January)City Councils (January) None Presidential (January)National Congress (February)Gubernatorial (January)States and Federal District Parliaments (January)President andvice president1 January None 1 January None5 JanuaryNational Congress1 February None 1 February None1 FebruaryStates, cities and municipalities1 January None 1 January None 1 January None 1 January None1 January(state parliaments)6 January(Governors)
Electoral systems
A presidential candidate in Brazil needs to gain fifty per cent plus one of votes to be named as winner. A second-round runoff is mandated if no candidate receives fifty per cent plus one of votes.Brazil: Lula renounces candidacy ahead of presidential poll
Deputies are elected to the Chamber of Deputies using a form of party-list proportional representation known as the open list. Seats are distributed in 27 multi-member constituencies based on the Federation Units (26 States and the Federal District), ranging from 8 to 70 seats. Seats are allocated through the D'Hondt method.
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 lower levels of government, the state legislative assemblies and city councils are 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 (where V is the total number of votes cast and n is the total number of seats to be filled) may win seats in the legislature.
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
Presidential elections by party