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Brazilian presidential election, 2010
October 3, 2010 (2010-10-03)
Nominee		José Serra	Dilma Rousseff	Ciro Gomes
Party		PSDB	PT	PSB
Home state		São Paulo	Minas Gerais / Rio Grande do Sul	Ceará
Incumbent President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva PT President-elect

The Brazilian general election of 2010 will be held on Sunday, October 3, 2010. The Presidency, all Chamber of Deputies seats and fifty-four of the Federal Senate seats will be contested in this election, along with all 26 states (plus the Federal District) governorships and the state legislatures.

Contents 1 President 1.1 Possible candidates 1.2 Opinion polls 2 Governors 3 Federal Senate 4 Chamber of Deputies 5 State Assemblies 6 References

[edit] President

On October 3, 2010, Brazilian citizens elegible to vote will choose the successor of current President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, from the Workers' Party. If none of the candidates receives more than a half of the valid votes, a run-off will be held on October 24, 2010. According to the Constitution, the President is elected directly to a four-year term, with a limit of two terms. Lula is not elegible, since he was elected in 2002 and re-elected in 2006 ^[1].

[edit] Possible candidates

The possible candidates of the two major political groups are Dilma Rousseff (from the government centre-left, which includes the ruling Workers' Party, the Democratic Movement Party, the Democratic Labour Party, the Republican Party, the Communist Party of Brazil, and the Republic Party, among others) and José Serra (from the centre-right opposition ^{[2][3][4][5][6]} , which includes the Social Democratic Party, the Democrats and the Socialist People's Party)^[1]. It is expected that the Left Front (formed by Socialism and Freedom Party, Brazilian Communist Party and United Socialist Workers' Party) launches Heloísa Helena once again as its presidential candidate. It is also possible that the Socialist Party launches Ciro Gomes as its candidate, and thus, creating a split on the centre-left group. Marina Silva, environmentalist and former Minister of Environment of the Lula administration, is a possible candidate for the Green Party.^[7] Some suggest that Helena may abandon her candidacy and form a coalition with Silva; the United Socialist Workers' Party announced that if this coalition is formed, it will then launch the candidacy of its president José Maria de Almeida^[8]. There are also some political rumours that the former governor of Rio Grande do Sul, Germano Rigotto may lead and independent candidacy by the Brazilian Democratic Movement Party or leave the party and join the either the Brazilian Labour Party or the Progressist Party in order to run for the presidency in a move similar to the one by Silva. ^[9]

Candidate		Endorsement	Political affiliation
	Aécio Neves Brazilian Social Democratic Party (PSDB)	Democrats (DEM)	Centre-right[4]
	José Serra Brazilian Social Democratic Party (PSDB)	Socialist People's Party (PPS)	Centre-right[4]
	Dilma Rousseff Workers' Party (PT)	Communist Party of Brazil (PCdoB) Brazilian Democratic Movement Party (PMDB) Brazilian Republican Party (PRB) Democratic Labour Party (PDT)	Government Centre-left
	Ciro Gomes Brazilian Socialist Party (PSB)	—	Center-left
	Heloísa Helena Socialism and Freedom Party (PSOL)	Brazilian Communist Party (PCB) United Socialist Workers' Party (PSTU)	Left
	Marina Silva Green Party (PV)	—	Centre-left
	Germano Rigotto Brazilian Democratic Movement Party (PMDB) (Rio Grande do Sul, Paraná, Santa Catarina and Roraima states only)	Brazilian Labour Party (PTB) Progressist Party (PP)	Center-right

[edit] Opinion polls

According to most polls, the most likely scenario is that José Serra will face Dilma Rousseff on a run-off, since neither of them has more than 50% of the voting intention.

Date	Institute	Candidate						Undecided
		Aécio Neves (PSDB)	José Serra (PSDB)	Dilma Rousseff (PT)	Ciro Gomes (PSB)	Heloísa Helena (PSOL)	Marina Silva (PV)
March 27, 2008	Datafolha[10]	—	38%	3%	20%	14%	—	25%
November 28, 2008	Datafolha[11]	—	41%	8%	15%	14%	—	21%
March 19, 2009	Datafolha[12]	—	41%	11%	16%	11%	—	21%
May 28, 2009	Datafolha[13]	—	38%	16%	15%	10%	—	21%
June 9, 2009	CNI / Ibope[14]	—	38%	18%	12%	7%	—	25%
August 16, 2009	Datafolha[15]	—	38%	17%	14%	12%	3%	18%
August 18, 2009	Vox Populi / Bandeirantes[16]	—	30%	21%	17%	12%	—	20%
September 8, 2009	CNT / Sensus[17]	—	39.5%	19%	—	9.7%	4.8%	27%
November 11, 2009	Vox Populi / Bandeirantes[18]	—	36%	19%	13%	6%	3%	23%
November 23, 2009	CNT / Sensus[19]	—	31.8%	21.7%	17.5%	—	5.9%	23.1%

[edit] Governors

All 26 Brazilian states and the Federal District governors will be up for election. If none of the candidates receives more than a half of the valid votes, a run-off will be held on October 24, 2010. According to the Constitution, governors are elected directly to a four-year term, with a limit of two terms. Aécio Neves (Minas Gerais), Blairo Maggi (Mato Grosso), Eduardo Braga (Amazonas), Ivo Cassol (Rondônia), Luiz Henrique da Silveira (Santa Catarina), Marcelo Miranda (Tocantins), Paulo Hartung (Espírito Santo), Roberto Requião (Paraná), Waldez Góes (Amapá), Wilma de Faria (Rio Grande do Norte) and Wellington Dias (Piauí) were all elected in 2002 and re-elected in 2006 and thus are not allowed to run again.

[edit] Federal Senate

Fifty-four of the 81 seats in the Federal Senate will be up for election. According to the Constitution, senators are elected directly to an eight-year term, and there is no limit on the number of terms. Alternately, one third and two thirds of the seats are up for election every four years. On 2006, one third of the seats were up for election and thus on 2010 there will be two thirds.

[edit] Chamber of Deputies

All 513 seats in the Brazilian Chamber of Deputies will be up for election. According to the Constitution, deputies are elected directly to a four-year term, and there is no limit on the number of terms.

[edit] State Assemblies

All seats in the State Assemblies will be up for election. According to the Constitution, State Assemblies are unicameral, and its members, who are designated as state deputies, are elected directly to a four-year term, with no limit on the number of terms.

[edit] References

v • d • e Elections and referendums in Brazil Presidential elections 1891 · 1894 · 1898 · 1902 · 1906 · 1910 · 1914 · 1919 · 1918 · 1922 · 1926 · 1930 · 1934 · 1938 · 1945 · 1950 · 1955 · 1960 · 1964 · 1966 · 1969 · 1974 · 1978 · 1985 · 1989 · 1994 · 1998 · 2002 · 2006 · 2010 Parliamentary elections 1842 · 1933 · 1945 · 1947 · 1950 · 1954 · 1958 · 1962 · 1966 · 1970 · 1974 · 1978 · 1982 · 1986 · 1990 · 1994 · 1998 · 2002 · 2006 · 2010 Referendums 1963 · 1993 · 2005