1989 Brazilian presidential election

Presidential elections were held in Brazil in 1989. The first round was on November 15 and the second round on December 17. They were the first direct presidential elections since 1960. They were the first elections using a two-round system and the first under the 1988 constitution. This was the first democratic election since the fall of the military dictatorship.

President José Sarney of the Brazilian Democratic Movement (PMDB), the MBD's successor, was ineligible to run. Popular Governor of Alagoas Fernando Collor de Mello resigned as governor to run for president. His television campaign ads made him from a dark horse candidate to a front-runner presidential candidate. Collor chose Senator Itamar Franco as his running mate.

Popular labor leader and member of the Chamber of Deputies Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, known as Lula, ran as a progressive left-wing political candidate. Lula was widely known in Brazil for his role leading the highly publicized metalworkers' strike during the late 1970s. Lula ran as a member of the Workers' Party (PT).

In the first round of voting, Collor won 30.48% of the vote against Lula's 17.19%. In the second round, Collor defeated Lula, winning 53.03% against 46.97%. Collor became the first democratically-elected President of Brazil in almost thirty years. Collor would later resign from office because of an impeachment trial.

References

Category:Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva
Category:1989
Category:1980s in South America
Category:Presidential elections