The 2006 election were marked by the now extinct "verticalization rule", which forced parties to form coalitions on a state level with the same parties with which they were allied nationwide. This rule was introduced at the 2002 general elections by the Supreme Electoral Court.
All Chamber of Deputies seats were put into contest for the 2006 general election. On the Federal Senate, 27 seats (one third of the upper house) were contested in 2006. This means one Senator was elected to represent each of the 26 States plus the Federal District.
With its image tainted by the mensalão scandal, the Workers' Party saw a decrease of 3.4% in its voting, compared to the previous general election. For the first time, it lost votes when compared to a previous election. The main opposition parties, Brazilian Social Democratic Party and Liberal Front Party, also saw a decrease in its voting. All other major parties, with the exception of centre-right Progressive Party, increased its voting.
Contents |
| Parties | Chamber of Deputies | Federal Senate | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Votes | % | Seats | Votes | % | Total seats | elected in 2006 | ||
| Workers' Party (Partido dos Trabalhadores) | 13,989,859 | 15.0 | 83 | 16,222,159 | 19.2 | 101 | 2 | |
| Brazilian Democratic Movement Party (Partido do Movimento Democrático Brasileiro) | 13,580,517 | 14.6 | 89 | 10,148,024 | 12.0 | 162 | 4 | |
| Brazilian Social Democratic Party (Partido da Social-Democracia Brasileira) | 12,691,043 | 13.6 | 65 | 10,547,778 | 12.5 | 142 | 5 | |
| Democrats (Democratas) | 10,182,308 | 10.9 | 65 | 21,653,812 | 25.7 | 18 | 6 | |
| Progressive Party (Partido Progressista) | 6,662,309 | 7.1 | 42 | 4,228,431 | 5.0 | 1 | 1 | |
| Brazilian Socialist Party (Partido Socialista Brasileiro) | 5,732,464 | 6.2 | 27 | 2,143,355 | 2.5 | 3 | 1 | |
| Democratic Labour Party (Partido Democrático Trabalhista) | 4,854,017 | 5.2 | 24 | 5,023,041 | 6.0 | 5 | 1 | |
| Brazilian Labour Party (Partido Trabalhista Brasileiro) | 4,397,743 | 4.7 | 22 | 2,676,469 | 3.2 | 4 | 3 | |
| Liberal Party (Partido Liberal) | 4,074,618 | 4.4 | 23 | 696,501 | 0.8 | 3 | 1 | |
| Socialist People's Party (Partido Popular Socialista) | 3,630,462 | 3.9 | 21 | 1,232,571 | 1.5 | 1 | 1 | |
| Green Party (Partido Verde) | 3,368,561 | 3.6 | 13 | 1,425,765 | 1.7 | 0 | 0 | |
| Communist Party of Brazil (Partido Comunista do Brasil) | 1,982,323 | 2.1 | 13 | 6,364,019 | 7.5 | 2 | 1 | |
| Social Christian Party (Partido Social Cristão) | 1,747,863 | 1.9 | 9 | 131,548 | 0.2 | 0 | 0 | |
| Socialism and Freedom Party (Partido Socialismo e Liberdade) | 1,149,619 | 1.2 | 3 | 351,527 | 0.4 | 11 | 0 | |
| Party of the Reconstruction of the National Order (Partido de Reedificação da Ordem Nacional) | 907,494 | 1.0 | 2 | 69,640 | 0.1 | 0 | 0 | |
| Party of National Mobilization (Partido da Mobilização Nacional) | 875,686 | 0.9 | 3 | 12,925 | 0.0 | 0 | 0 | |
| Christian Labour Party (Partido Trabalhista Cristão) | 806,662 | 0.9 | 4 | 39,690 | 0.0 | 0 | 0 | |
| Humanist Party of Solidarity (Partido Humanista da Solidariedade) | 435,328 | 0.5 | 2 | 24,940 | 0.0 | 0 | 0 | |
| Christian Social Democratic Party (Partido Social Democrata Cristão) | 354,217 | 0.4 | 0 | 53,025 | 0.1 | 0 | 0 | |
| Labour Party of Brazil (Partido Trabalhista do Brasil) | 311,833 | 0.3 | 1 | 69,923 | 0.1 | 0 | 0 | |
| Party of the Nation's Retirees (Partido dos Aposentados da Nação) | 264,682 | 0.3 | 1 | 2,969 | 0.0 | 0 | 0 | |
| Brazilian Republican Party (Partido Republicano Brasileiro) | 244,059 | 0.3 | 1 | 264,155 | 0.3 | 2 | 0 | |
| Republican Progressive Party (Partido Republicano Progressista) | 233,497 | 0.3 | 0 | 12,954 | 0.0 | 0 | 0 | |
| Social Liberal Party (Partido Social Liberal) | 190,793 | 0.2 | 0 | 46,542 | 0.0 | 0 | 0 | |
| Brazilian Labour Renewal Party (Partido Renovador Trabalhista Brasileiro) | 171,908 | 0.2 | 0 | 644,111 | 0.8 | 1 | 1 | |
| National Labour Party (Partido Trabalhista Nacional) | 149,809 | 0.2 | 0 | 11,063 | 0.0 | 0 | 0 | |
| United Socialist Workers' Party (Partido Socialista dos Trabalhadores Unificado) | 101,307 | 0.1 | 0 | 196,636 | 0.2 | 0 | 0 | |
| Brazilian Communist Party (Partido Comunista Brasileiro) | 64,766 | 0.1 | 0 | 62,756 | 0.1 | 0 | 0 | |
| Workers Cause Party (Partido da Causa Operária) | 29,083 | 0.0 | 0 | 27,476 | 0.0 | 0 | 0 | |
| Total (turnout 83.3%) | 93,184,830 | 100 | 513 | 84,383,805 | 100 | 81 | 27 | |
| Source: Election Resources on the Internet: Federal Elections in Brazil, Official Federal Senate website for continuing senators.
Substitutes from another party admitions: 1Senator Ana Júlia de Vasconcelos Carepa, of the Workers' Party (Partido dos Trabalhadores), resigned following her election as Governor of Pará State in 2006, in the middle of her Senate term. José Nery de Azevedo, of the Socialism and Freedom Party (Partido Socialismo e Liberdade) took her seat in the Senate. 2Senator Leonel Arcângelo Pavan of the Brazilian Social Democracy Party (Partido da Social-Democracia Brasileira), resigned following his election as Vice Governor of Santa Catarina State in 2006, in the middle of his Senate term. Neuto Fausto de Couto, of the Brazilian Democratic Movement Party (Partido do Movimento Democrático Brasileiro) took his seat in the Senate. |
||||||||
As a highly centralized federation, state-level elections in the Republic of Brazil are determined by the Federal Constitution and are held in the same dates and years as the Federal Elections.
The Governors elected in 2006 were the following:
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 (state) 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. Ironically, the PMDB decided not to take any part whatsoever 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 was the most voted, but his votes were around 1% less of the sum the other candidates', forcing him to a run-off with Alckmin, who placed second.
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.
If the formula worked or not, the fact is Lula's poll numbers skyrocketed and in the end, he was elected for a second term as president of Brazil by a 20 million vote margin, while Alckmin got less votes than in the first round.
|
||||||||||||||