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Presidential election | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Turnout | 82.26% (first round) 79.53% (second round) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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 Second round, shaded accounding to vote share First round, shaded accounding to vote sharePresidential election results | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Chamber of Deputies | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 6 October 2002 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
All 513 seats in theChamber of Deputies 257 seats needed for a majority | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
This lists parties that won seats. See the complete results below. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 6 October 2002 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
54 of the 81 seats in theSenate | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
This lists parties that won seats. See the complete results below. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
General elections were held inBrazil on 6 October 2002, with a second round of the presidential election on 27 October. The elections were held in the midst of an economic crisis that began in the second term of the incumbent president,Fernando Henrique Cardoso of the centre-rightBrazilian Social Democracy Party (PSDB). Due to constitutional term limits, Cardoso was ineligible to run for a third consecutive term.
Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva of theWorkers' Party (PT), a former labor leader andfederal deputy forSão Paulo, ran for president for a fourth time. Lula had previously lost in the1989,1994, and1998 presidential elections, being defeated by Cardoso in the latter two. Lula somewhat moderated his political approach in the 2002 presidential campaign, writing a document now known as theLetter to the Brazilian People to ease fears that he would transition Brazil into a full-fledgedsocialist economy.[1] Staying true to this turn to the center, Lula choseJosé Alencar, amillionaire textile businessman andSenator fromMinas Gerais associated with the centre-rightLiberal Party (PL), as his running mate.[2]
Following a tense intra-party battle over who would run to succeed Cardoso on the PSDB ticket, formerMinister of HealthJosé Serra was ultimately selected by the party to be its standard bearer for President in 2002.[3]Rita Camata, afederal deputy forEspírito Santo and member of the centristBrazilian Democratic Movement Party (PMDB), was chosen as his running mate. In the beginning of the election cycle,Governor ofMaranhãoRoseana Sarney (PFL) looked to be the most viable centre-right candidate.[4] However, a corruption scandal forced Sarney out of the race, allowing the PSDB to remain the paramount centre-right force in the 2002 cycle.[5]
The election took place in the aftermath of an economic crisis that hit Brazil during Cardoso's second term.[6] Lula's pivot to the centre worked, picking up the support of keycentrist andcentre-right politicians such as former PresidentJosé Sarney in the process.[7] In the first round, Lula would lead Serra by a wide margin, only failing to prevent a runoff because of votes that went to other left-wing candidates. In the second round, Lula would defeat Serra by a landslide, winning every state except forAlagoas.[8] In 2003, Lula took office asPresident of Brazil, becoming the first leftist elected to the office following the fall of themilitary dictatorship in Brazil.
During the second term of theFernando Henrique Cardoso administration, a serious economic crisis began in Brazil as an impact of the1997 Asian financial crisis.[9] Commencing shortly after the1998 elections, when Cardoso was re-elected, as a currency crisis, it resulted in a decrease in growth and employment rates and a rise inpublic debt.
In an environment of distrust and uncertainty for investment, many investors feared the measures that were going to be taken if aleft-wing candidate won the election. As a matter of fact, when Workers' Party candidateLuiz Inácio Lula da Silva (Lula) would rise in the polls, the so-called "Brazil risk" index, which measures the confidence of investors in the country, would also rise.
The media called this the "Lula risk", indicating that if Lula was to win the election, the economy would fail. Lula was then forced to sign a text that became known asCarta aos Brasileiros (Letter to the Brazilian people), promising that if he won the election, he would not change the economic policy of Brazil. Many in the left-wing saw this as a shift to thecenter from Lula and his Workers' Party, which openly defended a transition tosocialist economy in the1989 presidential election.
With incumbent PresidentFernando Henrique Cardoso ineligible to run for a third consecutive term due to term limits, the dominant centre-right PSDB was forced to find a new candidate for the 2002 election. Given that Cardoso was elected with the help of a broad centre-right coalition, there existed fear among PSDB officials that another candidate would be unable to maintain his coalition.[10]
José Serra, who had served asMinister of Health under Cardoso, was eventually chosen as the party's nominee. Outgoing President Cardoso was initially favorable to the prospect ofGovernor ofCearáTasso Jereissati serving as the PSDB's presidential nominee in 2002.[11] According to a report byThe Economist, Jereissati enjoyed broader support among the PSDB's coalition partners than Serra, whose performance on the campaign trail was considered lackluster.[12] Additionally, some PSDB insiders and political scientists feared that Serra would perform poorly in thenortheast, and believed that Jereissati would do better in the region owing to being fromCeará.[13]
In addition to Serra and Jereissati, who were the subject of most speculation, other potential PSDB candidates were speculated on, including members of the Cardoso administration. Economist and education officialPaulo Renato Souza, who served as Cardoso'sMinister of Education, was occasionally mentioned as a potential PSDB candidate, though he declined to run.[14]Pedro Malan, an economist who served asMinister of Finance under Cardoso, was also the subject of some 2002 speculation, though he similarly chose not to contest the election for the PSDB.[15]
BothGovernor of São PauloGeraldo Alckmin[16] andPresident of the Chamber of DeputiesAécio Neves[17] were also the subject of some media speculation, though neither entered the race; Alckmin would later represent the PSDB in the2006 and2018 presidential elections, while Neves would be the party's presidential candidate in2014.
Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, known as Lula, was a fixture of the Brazilian Left going into the 2002 election. Well-known for his role in the 1980 steelworkers' strike, the former labor leader andfederal deputy forSão Paulo served as the PT's presidential candidate in1989,1994, and1998. Nevertheless, Lula faced some opposition within his own party, who felt that he shouldn't lead the party after losing the past three presidential elections.SenatorEduardo Suplicy ofSão Paulo contested the nomination for as the candidacy of the PT.[18][19][20] Suplicy was well-known for being an early supporter of auniversal basic income,[21][22] and party leadership encouraged his participation in the party'spreliminary election to mobilize and unite the party's base.[23] Suplicy would lose to Lula with just over 15% of the preliminary vote.[24] During the campaign, Suplicy accused party leadership of favoring Lula, publicly demanding that pro-Lula party presidentJosé Dirceu be impartial in the election.[25]FormerGovernor of the Federal DistrictCristovam Buarque was named as a possible centrist challenger to Lula in the PT preliminary election.[26][27] Buarque, who had supportedDemocratic Labour Party (PDT) candidateLeonel Brizola rather than Lula in the1989 presidential election,[28] was known for his independence from party leadership. A member of the party'smoderate wing, he was an early supporter of PT moving to thepolitical centre, advocating for privatization of some state industries.[29] Buarque ended up not running for President, and would join Lula's administration asMinister of Education in 2003,[30] before leaving the party altogether and running for president in the 2006 election under the PDT.
On the other hand, some members of the party's left-wing who felt Lula that was too moderate urgedMayor of BelémEdmilson Rodrigues to contest the party' nomination.[31][32] Edmilson did not end up running for the party's nomination, and would later leave the party to join the left-wingSocialism and Liberty Party (PSOL).[33]
| Party | Candidate | Most relevant political office or occupation | Party | Running mate | Coalition | Electoral number | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
_logo.svg){kind=logo} Workers' Party (PT) |  Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva | Member of theChamber of Deputies fromSão Paulo (1987–1991) | .png) Liberal Party (PL) |  José Alencar | Lula President[a]
| 13 | ||
 |  José Serra | Minister of Health of Brazil (1998–2002) |  |  Rita Camata | Great Alliance[b] | 45 | ||
| Party | Candidate | Most relevant political office or occupation | Party | Running mate | Coalition | Electoral number | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 | .jpg) José Maria de Almeida | PSTU National President (since 1993) | |  Dayse Oliveira | — | 16 | ||
 Popular Socialist Party (PPS) |  Ciro Gomes | Governor of Ceará (1991–1994) | .png) Democratic Labour Party (PDT) |  Paulo Pereira da Silva | Labour Front
| 23 | ||
 Workers' Cause Party (PCO) | .jpg) Rui Costa Pimenta | PCO National President (since 1995) | Workers' Cause Party (PCO) | Pedro Paulo de Abreu | — | 29 | ||
 Anthony Garotinho | Governor of Rio de Janeiro (1999–2002) | José Antonio Almeida | Brazil Hope Front
| 40 | ||||
| Candidate | Running mate | Party | First round | Second round | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Votes | % | Votes | % | ||||
| Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva | José Alencar (PL) | Workers' Party | 39,455,233 | 46.44 | 52,793,364 | 61.27 | |
| José Serra | Rita Camata (PMDB) | Brazilian Social Democratic Party | 19,705,445 | 23.20 | 33,370,739 | 38.73 | |
| Anthony Garotinho | José Antônio Figueiredo | Brazilian Socialist Party | 15,180,097 | 17.87 | |||
| Ciro Gomes | Paulo Pereira da Silva (PDT) | Popular Socialist Party | 10,170,882 | 11.97 | |||
| José Maria de Almeida | Dayse Oliveira | United Socialist Workers' Party | 402,236 | 0.47 | |||
| Rui Costa Pimenta | Pedro Paulo de Abreu | Workers' Cause Party | 38,619 | 0.05 | |||
| Total | 84,952,512 | 100.00 | 86,164,103 | 100.00 | |||
| Valid votes | 84,952,512 | 89.61 | 86,164,103 | 94.00 | |||
| Invalid votes | 6,976,685 | 7.36 | 3,772,138 | 4.12 | |||
| Blank votes | 2,873,753 | 3.03 | 1,727,760 | 1.88 | |||
| Total votes | 94,802,950 | 100.00 | 91,664,001 | 100.00 | |||
| Registered voters/turnout | 115,253,816 | 82.26 | 115,253,816 | 79.53 | |||
| Source:Election Resources | |||||||
| Presidential elections | |
|---|---|
| Parliamentary elections | |
| Gubernatorial elections | |
| State elections | |
| Municipal elections | |
| Regency elections | |
| Referendums | |
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