page_title: Ulysses Guimarães
section_title: Political activism
hierarchical_section_title: Ulysses Guimarães / Biography / Political activism
caption_attribution_description: English: Ulysses Guimaraes and the Brazilian Constitution of 1988. Português: Brasília - O deputado Ulysses Guimarães mostra a Constituição brasileira, promulgada em 1988
context_page_description: Ulysses Silveira Guimarães was a Brazilian politician and lawyer who played an important role in opposing the military dictatorship in Brazil and in the fight to restore democracy in the country. He died in a helicopter accident by the shore near Angra dos Reis, in the south of Rio de Janeiro state.
context_section_description: Together with Tancredo Neves, Orestes Quércia and Franco Montoro, Guimarães led new campaigns by democratization such as direct elections, popularly known by the slogan: Diretas Já. Ulysses Guimarães was almost  the candidate for president of the Republic in 1985 by PMDB, when elections were held in the electoral college. The political  articulations of the era ultimately led to the election of a "mixed" ticket with Tancredo Neves as PMDB presidential candidate and José Sarney, ex-PDS/Frente Liberal, as running mate.
  The Neves/Sarney ticket won in a landslide. However, Neves fell gravely ill in the weeks leading up to his inauguration, and it soon became apparent that he would be too sick to be sworn in as scheduled on March 15. Several politicians argued that Guimarães, who had been elected President of the Chamber of Deputies, should have ascended as acting president. They took the line that Sarney should be sworn in alongside Neves, as he had only been elected vice president by virtue of being Neves' running mate. However, Guimarães himself argued that Sarney should assume office as acting president, since the vice president's main duty was to stand in for the president when necessary. Accordingly, Sarney was sworn in as vice president, and immediately became acting president, formally ascending as president upon Neves' death on April 21.
  Guimarães was President of the Chamber of Deputies in three periods (1956-1958, 1985-1987 and 1987-1989), chairing the National Constituent Assembly in 1987-1988. The new constitution, in which he was instrumental, was promulgated on October 5, 1988, and was by him called Citizen Constitution, by the social advances that incorporated in the text. Due to his great popularity, he ran for president for PMDB in the 1989 direct elections, won by Fernando Collor.
caption: Ulysses Guimarães holding the final draft of the 1988 Constitution.
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