2006 Brazilian general election

2006 Brazilian general election

Presidential election
1 October 2006 (first round) 29 October 2006 (second round)
Turnout	83.25% (first round) 81.01% (second round)
Candidate Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva Geraldo Alckmin Party PT PSDB Alliance Strength of the People For a Decent Brazil Running mate José Alencar José Jorge Popular vote 58,295,042 37,543,178 Percentage 60.83% 39.17%
President before election Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva PT Elected President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva PT
Chamber of Deputies election
1 October 2006
All 513 seats in the Chamber of Deputies 257 seats needed for a majority
Party Leader Vote % Seats /– PT Ricardo Berzoini 15.01 83 −8 PMDB Michel Temer 14.57 89 15 PSDB Tasso Jereissati 13.62 65 −6 PFL Jorge Bornhausen 10.93 65 −19 PP 7.15 42 −7 PSB Roberto Amaral 6.15 27 5 PDT Carlos Lupi 5.21 24 3 PTB Roberto Jefferson 4.72 22 −4 PL Valdemar Costa Neto 4.37 23 −3 PPS 3.90 21 6 PV José Luiz Penna 3.61 13 8 PCdoB 2.13 13 1 PSC 1.88 9 8 PSOL Heloísa Helena 1.23 3 New PRONA Enéas Carneiro 0.97 2 −4 PMN 0.94 3 2 PTC Daniel Tourinho 0.87 4 4 PHS 0.47 2 2 PTdoB Luis Tibé 0.33 1 1 PAN 0.28 1 1 PRB 0.26 1 New This lists parties that won seats. See the complete results below.
Senate election
1 October 2006
27 of the 81 seats in the Senate
Party Leader Vote % Seats /– PFL Jorge Bornhausen 25.66 18 −1 PT Ricardo Berzoini 19.22 10 −4 PSDB Tasso Jereissati 12.50 14 3 PMDB Michel Temer 12.03 16 −3 PCdoB 7.54 2 2 PDT Carlos Lupi 5.95 5 0 PP 5.01 1 0 PTB Roberto Jefferson 3.17 4 1 PSB Roberto Amaral 2.54 3 −1 PPS 1.46 1 0 PL Valdemar Costa Neto 0.83 3 0 PRTB Levy Fidelix 0.76 1 1 PSOL Heloísa Helena 0.42 1 New PRB 0.31 2 New This lists parties that won seats. See the complete results below.

General elections were held in Brazil on 1 October 2006 to elect the president, National Congress and state governors, with a second round of the presidential election on 29 October as no candidate received more than 50% of the vote in the first round.

Elected by a wide margin in the 2002 presidential elections, incumbent Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva of the centre-left Workers' Party (PT) ran for reelection. During his first term in office, Lula implemented a wide array of social programs, including the Fome Zero (Zero Hunger) and Bolsa Família (Family Allowance) programs. The programs were credited for a historic 27.7% drop in the poverty rate during Lula's first term in office. However, the Mensalão scandal, a corruption scandal that implicated politicians in the PT and other parties, briefly caused a decline in Lula's popularity in the year prior to the election. As he did in 2002, Lula would choose centre-right Vice President José Alencar of the Brazilian Republican Party (PRB) as his running mate, despite rumors he would choose a Brazilian Democratic Movement (PMDB) member. During his presidential campaign Lula performed best among working-class voters.

The Brazilian Social Democracy Party (PSDB), the dominant centre-right force in Brazilian politics and the PT's main rival at the national level, chose former Governor of São Paulo Geraldo Alckmin as the party's presidential nominee. Closely affiliated with the Brazilian business establishment, Alckmin was very popular as Governor of São Paulo, a stronghold of the PSDB. During his presidential campaign, Alckmin pushed for tax cuts, and he performed best among wealthy voters, while trailing in the working-class vote to Lula. To expand his coalition, Alckmin chose Senator José Jorge of Pernambuco, a member of the centre-right Liberal Front Party (PFL), as his running mate.

Though Lula was expected to win in the first round with a large majority, the President unexpectedly received 48.7% to Alckmin's 41.6%, mandating the need for a second round. This was partially attributed to a late breaking scandal in 2006 known as Dossiergate which involved PT leadership, which allowed Alckmin to surge significantly in the weeks prior to the runoff. Nonetheless, Lula won in a landslide in the second round, with Alckmin garnering a lower vote percentage than he did in the first round. In 2007, Lula would take office for the second time as President of Brazil.

In 2022, Lula was elected to a third term with Alckmin (who lost to Lula in this election) as his running mate. They were sworn in as president and vice-president respectively on 1 January 2023.

Background

The 2006 election was held amid a clear reorganization of the political forces of the country. After three failed attempts, Workers' Party candidate Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva was eventually elected president. The financial market feared his government would be a threat to the new-found economic stability. Lula, once considered a member of the radical left wing, implemented unorthodox neoliberal policies on the economic field, resembling the Fernando Henrique Cardoso administration, but not succumbing, however, to privatization pressures. On the social field, Lula gained notice for Fome Zero, a successful measure to eradicate extreme poverty. Cardoso was mentioned as a potential candidate in 2006.

The Workers' Party was, thus, deemed less socialist and more social democratic. As the party moved deeper into the centre-left spectrum, allying with centrist Brazilian Democratic Movement Party, a series of complaints were made by members of its far left factions, which accused it of betraying its ideals and founding charter. Despite the discredit of the Workers' Party among traditional leftists, they strongly supported Lula as the real left wing alternative. The Brazilian Communist Party, for instance, supported Lula on the second round, unlike its presidential candidate Heloísa Helena, informing its members of the alleged regression Geraldo Alckmin would represent if elected.

Two former members of the Workers' Party, Cristovam Buarque and Heloísa Helena, launched their candidacies as "alternative left" candidates for the Democratic Labour Party and the Socialism and Liberty Party, respectively. They once discussed the possibility of forming a coalition themselves. Both parties were criticised by the left on the second round for not supporting Lula.

The campaign for void voting reached its peak on the 2006 election, with MTV Brasil (unlike its American branch, which advocates voting initiatives like Rock the Vote among younger audiences) becoming the first TV network to officially support it.

Electoral system

The 2006 elections were the last marked by the now extinct "verticalization rule", that forced parties to ally on the state level with the same parties for which they were allied nationwide. This rule was introduced at the 2002 general elections by the Supreme Electoral Court.

Workers' Party vice-presidential selection

In 2002, the ability of Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, known as Lula, to finally get elected after three previous attempts. The choice of millionaire businessman José Alencar, then a member of the Liberal Party (PL), was partially credited as a reason for his victory. Alencar was widely-known and respected as a self-made man in industrial circles and his choice signaled that Lula was not going to transform the country into a full-fledged socialist economy.

Nevertheless, going into the 2006 presidential election, Lula considered replacing Alencar in favor of a different running mate. Indeed, one report by Folha de S.Paulo in 2006 stated that it was "incredibly unlikely" that Alencar would be chosen again. Though Lula and Alencar became close friends in office, even being described as "brothers" in spite of their political differences, there was speculation that Lula would choose a running mate from the Brazilian Democratic Movement Party (PMDB). The centrist PMDB was considered to be a kingmaker in the National Congress and Lula sought to keep the powerful party in his governing bloc.

PMBD leaders mentioned as possible running mates for Lula include: Renan Calheiros, a Senator from Alagoas considered to be a member of the pro-Lula wing of the party; Germano Rigotto, the neoliberal Governor of Rio Grande do Sul; Jarbas Vasconcelos, the Governor of Pernambuco and critic of Lula; Helio Costa, who was serving in Lula's government as Minister of Communications at the time.

Presidential candidates

Candidates in runoff

Party		Candidate	Most relevant political office or occupation	Party		Running mate	Coalition	Electoral number
	Workers' Party (PT)	Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva	President of Brazil (2003–2011)		Brazilian Republican Party (PRB)	José Alencar	The Strength of the People Workers' Party (PT) Communist Party of Brazil (PCdoB) Brazilian Republican Party (PRB)	13
	Brazilian Social Democracy Party (PSDB)	Geraldo Alckmin	Governor of São Paulo (2001–2006)		Liberal Front Party (PFL)	José Jorge	For a Decent Brazil Brazilian Social Democracy Party (PSDB) Liberal Front Party (PFL)	45

Candidates failing to make runoff

Party		Candidate	Most relevant political office or occupation	Party		Running mate	Coalition	Electoral number
	Democratic Labour Party (PDT)	Cristovam Buarque	Senator for the Federal District (2003–2019)		Democratic Labour Party (PDT)	Jefferson Peres	—	12
	Social Liberal Party (PSL)	Luciano Bivar	Member of the Chamber of Deputies from Pernambuco (1999–2003)		Social Liberal Party (PSL)	Américo de Souza	—	17
	Christian Social Democratic Party (PSDC)	José Maria Eymael	Member of the Chamber of Deputies from São Paulo (1987–1995)		Christian Social Democratic Party (PSDC)	José Paulo Neto	—	27
	Progressive Republican Party (PRP)	Ana Maria Rangel	Businesswoman and political scientist		Progressive Republican Party (PRP)	Delma Gama e Narcini	—	44
	Socialism and Liberty Party (PSOL)	Heloísa Helena	Senator for Alagoas (1999–2007)		Socialism and Liberty Party (PSOL)	César Benjamin	Left-Wing Front Socialism and Liberty Party (PSOL) Brazilian Communist Party (PCB) United Socialist Workers' Party (PSTU)	50

Denied candidacy

Party		Candidate	Most relevant political office or occupation	Party		Running mate	Coalition	Electoral number
	Workers' Cause Party (PCO)	Rui Costa Pimenta	PCO National President (since 1995)		Workers' Cause Party (PCO)	Pedro Paulo de Abreu	—	29

Campaign

Starting from the end of 2005, the most discussed issues about the 2006 national elections involved the country's four biggest parties: PFL, PMDB, PSDB and PT.

President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (PT) ran for reelection [1], but he did not confirm his candidacy until June 2006. This was regarded as a cautious move in case something major happened on the political spectrum that could harm his candidacy, especially regarding the 2005 political scandal, still under investigation.

At the end of 2005, several names were regarded in the PSDB as potential candidates for the presidential elections, such as former president Fernando Henrique Cardoso, senator Tasso Jereissati, Minas Gerais governor Aécio Neves, São Paulo governor Geraldo Alckmin and São Paulo mayor José Serra. By the beginning of 2006, Alckmin and Serra were considered the only two actual potential candidates, and the other three would choose between them (or determine a way by which the choice would be made). Geraldo Alckmin was the chosen candidate, whereas Serra is running for governor of São Paulo.

The PFL was planning the candidacy of Rio de Janeiro mayor César Maia. Another possibility was to appoint the vice-president nominee for PSDB presidential candidate. Maia initially said he would agree with the latter only if the presidential candidate was José Serra, but later accepted the possibility of the party appointing a name to run with Geraldo Alckmin, which was eventually senator José Jorge.

In the PMDB there was division. Some, including party president Michel Temer, wanted the party to have a candidate of its own for the presidential race, and scheduled primaries within the party, with two prospective candidates: former Rio de Janeiro governor Anthony Garotinho and Rio Grande do Sul governor Germano Rigotto. Another section of the party, though, wished to ally with president Lula and appoint the vice-president nominee to run with him. This "governist part" of the party was headed by senators Renan Calheiros and José Sarney. There was also a third possibility of making an alliance with PSDB. The PMDB decided not to take any part in the presidential elections and became free to make any coalition in the states.

Aside from these four parties, the smaller ones had no clear course of action. The PSOL was the first to appoint a candidate, senator Heloisa Helena.

The three main candidates were later joined by Cristóvam Buarque (PDT), Luciano Bivar (PSL), José Maria Eymael (PSDC) and Rui Costa Pimenta (PCO). Ana Maria Rangel (PRP), who also registered her candidacy, was ruled out after internal disagreements with her own party, but was able to revert the situation and regain her right to participate in the presidential race.

The first debate took part on 14 August, featuring Heloisa Helena, Cristóvam Buarque, Luciano Bivar and José Maria Eymael. Lula refused to participate, whereas Rui Costa Pimenta was not invited.

On 15 August, the official electoral programmes started being aired on television and radio. Every weekday, all candidates have a few prime-time minutes to put forward their ideas and plans. The time allocated to each one is loosely based on the number of Congress representatives each coalition has.

Also on 15 August, the Supreme Electoral Court decided to revoke the registration of the PCO candidate, Rui Costa Pimenta. The court ruling was based on the fact that the party had not presented its accounts for the 2002 general elections within the deadline specified by law. Pimenta, however, managed to retain his candidacy: the matter is pending decision.

Polls varied little in the two months prior to the election, showing Lula with over 50% of the valid votes, followed by Alckmin, Heloisa Helena, and Buarque. Nevertheless, the difference between Lula's figures and the sum of his opponents' shortened on the eve of the election.

On 28 September, the PT candidate refused to appear at a debate hosted by Globo TV. Explaining his decision in a letter addressed to the TV station, Lula claimed that all his opponents would take the opportunity to team up and attack him. Three days before the election, the last debate was expected to have a large audience.

On 1 October the first round ended with no winner. Lula led the field with 48.6 percent of the vote. Although he came just a few thousand votes short of a first-round victory, his vote share was roughly 1% less of the other candidates' combined total. This forced him into a run-off with Alckmin, who placed second.

Run-off

Despite being absent of the first-round debates, Lula faced Alckmin in four debates in the second round, each one of them aired by one of the four most important television channels in Brazil - Band, SBT, Record and two days before the election, on Globo TV.

Since the first debate, Alckmin accused Lula of being lenient with the members of his government who had to resign after being charged in many scandals since 2005. Also he tried to underestimate the achievements the president claimed to obtain during his term, like reducing of poverty and inflation rates, claiming his results were consequence of the favorable international economic scenario and the achievements of his antecessor Fernando Henrique Cardoso, from Alckmin's party.

Lula however claimed that despite his government is under investigation, both Cardoso and Alckmin halted many investigations on their administrations with dubious methods. According to analysts, Lula dealt damage to Alckmin most when he accused him of threatening the Bolsa Família program, which attends millions of low-income Brazilian families, and questioning the privatizations done during the Cardoso government claiming that most of them were unnecessary and the state companies in question were sold for sums much lower than their true market value, like the Vale do Rio Doce, sold by R$3.3 billion at the time, but now profits this same amount in a quarter of year. Also he claimed that there would be no guarantee that other companies could be sold like state oil giant Petrobras, the country's largest and most profitable company, in case of Alckmin's victory.

Whether the formula worked or not, Lula's poll numbers increased sharply and he was elected for a second term as president by a 20 million vote margin, while Alckmin received fewer votes than in the first round. Despite this, Alckmin won seven states Lula had carried in 2002 (Amapá, Mato Grosso, Mato Grosso do Sul, Paraná, Rio Grande do Sul, Santa Catarina and Sao Paulo) while Lula won Alagoas, the only state to vote against him in 2002.

Debates

2006 Brazilian presidential election debates
No.	Date and location	Hosts	Moderators	Participants
Key:  P  Present  A  Absent  N  Not invited				PT	PSDB	PDT	PSOL	PSDC	PSL	PRP
				Lula	Alckmin	Buarque	Helena	Eymael	Bivar	Rangel
1.1	Monday, 14 August 2006 São Paulo	Band TV, BandNews TV, BandNews FM, Rádio Bandeirantes	Ricardo Boechat	A	P	P	P	P	P	N
1.2	Thursday, 14 September 2006 São Paulo	TV Gazeta	Maria Lydia Flândoli	A	P	P	P	N	N	N
1.3	Thursday, 28 September 2006 Rio de Janeiro	TV Globo	William Bonner	A	P	P	P	N	N	N
2.1	Sunday, 8 October 2006 São Paulo	Band TV, BandNews TV, BandNews FM, Rádio Bandeirantes	Ricardo Boechat	P	P	Out
2.2	Tuesday, 17 October 2006 São Paulo	TV Gazeta	Maria Lydia Flândoli	Cancelled
2.3	Thursday, 19 October 2006 Osasco	SBT	Ana Paula Padrão	P	P
2.4	Tuesday, 23 October 2006 São Paulo	RecordTV	Celso Freitas	P	P
2.5	Wednesday, 27 October 2006 Rio de Janeiro	TV Globo, G1	William Bonner	P	P

Results

President

President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva celebrating his electoral victory after the 2006 elections.

Candidate		Running mate	Party	First round		Second round
				Votes	%	Votes	%
	Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva	José Alencar (PRB)	Workers' Party	46,662,365	48.61	58,295,042	60.83
	Geraldo Alckmin	José Jorge (PFL)	Brazilian Social Democracy Party	39,968,369	41.64	37,543,178	39.17
	Heloísa Helena	César Benjamin	Socialism and Liberty Party	6,575,393	6.85
	Cristovam Buarque	Jefferson Peres	Democratic Labour Party	2,538,844	2.64
	Ana Maria Rangel	Delma Gama e Narcini	Progressive Republican Party	126,404	0.13
	José Maria Eymael	José Paulo Nelo	Christian Social Democratic Party	63,294	0.07
	Luciano Bivar	Américo de Souza	Social Liberal Party	62,064	0.06
Total				95,996,733	100.00	95,838,220	100.00
Valid votes				95,996,733	91.58	95,838,220	93.96
Invalid/blank votes				8,823,726	8.42	6,160,001	6.04
Total votes				104,820,459	100.00	101,998,221	100.00
Registered voters/turnout				125,913,134	83.25	125,913,134	81.01
Source: Superior Electoral Court

Voter demographics

Demographic group	Lula	Alckmin	Total
Total vote	61	39	100
Gender
Men	64	36	48
Women	58	42	52
Age
16–24 years old	60	40	18
25–34 years old	63	37	24
35–44 years old	61	39	20
45–59 years old	61	39	23
60 and older	61	39	15
Education
Less than high school	67	33	45
High school diploma	59	41	39
Bachelor's degree or more	47	53	16
Family income
Under 2x min wage	69	31	44
2-5x min wage	59	41	36
5-10x min wage	49	51	11
Over 10x min wage	44	56	9
Region
Southeast	57	43	45
South	48	52	16
Northeast	76	24	25
North Central-West	61	39	14
Source: Datafolha

Chamber of Deputies

Party		Votes	%	Seats	/–
	Workers' Party	13,989,859	15.01	83	–8
	Brazilian Democratic Movement Party	13,580,517	14.57	89	15
	Brazilian Social Democracy Party	12,691,043	13.62	65	–6
	Liberal Front Party	10,182,308	10.93	65	–19
	Progressive Party	6,662,309	7.15	42	–7
	Brazilian Socialist Party	5,732,464	6.15	27	5
	Democratic Labour Party	4,854,017	5.21	24	3
	Brazilian Labour Party	4,397,743	4.72	22	–4
	Liberal Party	4,074,618	4.37	23	–3
	Popular Socialist Party	3,630,462	3.90	21	6
	Green Party	3,368,561	3.61	13	8
	Communist Party of Brazil	1,982,323	2.13	13	1
	Social Christian Party	1,747,863	1.88	9	8
	Socialism and Liberty Party	1,149,619	1.23	3	New
	Party of the Reconstruction of the National Order	907,494	0.97	2	–4
	Party of National Mobilization	875,686	0.94	3	2
	Christian Labour Party	806,662	0.87	4	4
	Humanist Party of Solidarity	435,328	0.47	2	2
	Christian Social Democratic Party	354,217	0.38	0	–1
	Labour Party of Brazil	311,833	0.33	1	1
	Party of the Nation's Retirees	264,682	0.28	1	1
	Brazilian Republican Party	244,059	0.26	1	New
	Progressive Republican Party	233,497	0.25	0	0
	Social Liberal Party	190,793	0.20	0	–1
	Brazilian Labour Renewal Party	171,908	0.18	0	0
	National Labour Party	149,809	0.16	0	0
	United Socialist Workers' Party	101,307	0.11	0	0
	Brazilian Communist Party	64,766	0.07	0	0
	Workers' Cause Party	29,083	0.03	0	0
Total		93,184,830	100.00	513	0
Valid votes		93,184,830	88.93
Invalid/blank votes		11,593,921	11.07
Total votes		104,778,751	100.00
Registered voters/turnout		125,827,119	83.27
Source: Election Resources

Senate

Party		Votes	%	Seats
				Won	Total	/–
	Liberal Front Party	21,653,812	25.66	6	18	–1
	Workers' Party	16,222,159	19.22	2	10	–4
	Brazilian Social Democracy Party	10,547,778	12.50	5	14	3
	Brazilian Democratic Movement Party	10,148,024	12.03	4	16	–3
	Communist Party of Brazil	6,364,019	7.54	1	2	2
	Democratic Labour Party	5,023,041	5.95	1	5	0
	Progressive Party	4,228,431	5.01	1	1	0
	Brazilian Labour Party	2,676,469	3.17	3	4	1
	Brazilian Socialist Party	2,143,355	2.54	1	3	–1
	Green Party	1,425,765	1.69	0	0	0
	Popular Socialist Party	1,232,571	1.46	1	1	0
	Liberal Party	696,501	0.83	1	3	0
	Brazilian Labour Renewal Party	644,111	0.76	1	1	1
	Socialism and Liberty Party	351,527	0.42	0	1	New
	Brazilian Republican Party	264,155	0.31	0	2	New
	United Socialist Workers' Party	196,636	0.23	0	0	0
	Social Christian Party	131,548	0.16	0	0	0
	Labour Party of Brazil	69,923	0.08	0	0	0
	Party of the Reconstruction of the National Order	69,640	0.08	0	0	0
	Brazilian Communist Party	62,756	0.07	0	0	0
	Social Democratic Christian Party	53,025	0.06	0	0	0
	Social Liberal Party	46,542	0.06	0	0	0
	Christian Labour Party	39,690	0.05	0	0	0
	Workers' Cause Party	27,476	0.03	0	0	0
	Humanist Party of Solidarity	24,940	0.03	0	0	0
	Progressive Republican Party	12,954	0.02	0	0	0
	Party of National Mobilization	12,925	0.02	0	0	0
	National Labour Party	11,063	0.01	0	0	0
	Party of the Nation's Retirees	2,969	0.00	0	0	0
Total		84,383,805	100.00	27	81	0
Valid votes		84,383,805	80.54
Invalid/blank votes		20,394,952	19.46
Total votes		104,778,757	100.00
Registered voters/turnout		125,827,119	83.27
Source: Election Resources

Gubernatorial elections

The Governors elected in 2006 were the following:

• Acre – Binho Marques from the Workers' Party
• Alagoas – Vilela Filho from the Brazilian Social Democratic Party
• Amapá – Waldez Góes from the Democratic Labour Party (re-elected)
• Amazonas – Eduardo Braga from the Brazilian Democratic Movement Party (re-elected)
• Bahia – Jaques Wagner from the Workers' Party
• Ceará – Cid Gomes from the Brazilian Socialist Party
• Espírito Santo – Paulo Hartung from the Brazilian Democratic Movement Party (re-elected)
• Federal District – José Roberto Arruda from the Liberal Front Party
• Goiás – Alcides Rodrigues from the Progressive Party
• Maranhão – Jackson Lago from the Democratic Labour Party
• Mato Grosso – Blairo Maggi from the Socialist People's Party (re-elected)
• Mato Grosso do Sul – André Puccinelli from the Brazilian Democratic Movement Party
• Minas Gerais – Aécio Neves from the Brazilian Social Democratic Party (re-elected)
• Pará – Ana Júlia Carepa from the Workers' Party
• Paraíba – Cássio Cunha Lima from the Brazilian Social Democratic Party (re-elected)
• Paraná – Roberto Requião from the Brazilian Democratic Movement Party (re-elected)
• Pernambuco – Eduardo Campos from the Brazilian Socialist Party
• Piauí – Wellington Dias from the Workers' Party (re-elected)
• Rio de Janeiro – Sérgio Cabral Filho from the Brazilian Democratic Movement Party
• Rio Grande do Norte – Wilma de Faria from the Brazilian Socialist Party (re-elected)
• Rio Grande do Sul – Yeda Crusius from the Brazilian Social Democratic Party
• Rondônia – Ivo Cassol from the Socialist People's Party (re-elected)
• Roraima – Ottomar Pinto from the Brazilian Social Democratic Party (re-elected)
• Santa Catarina – Luiz Henrique da Silveira from the Brazilian Democratic Movement Party (re-elected)
• São Paulo – José Serra from the Brazilian Social Democratic Party
• Sergipe – Marcelo Déda from the Workers' Party
• Tocantins – Marcelo Miranda from the Brazilian Democratic Movement Party