Brazilian general election, 2002

Brazilian general election, 2002

6 and 27 October 2002

Candidate Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva José Serra Party PT PSDB Home state Pernambuco / São Paulo São Paulo Running mate José Alencar Rita Camata States carried 25+DF 1 Popular vote 52,772,475 33,356,860 Percentage 61.3% 38.7%

Presidential election results map after the second round of voting: Red denotes states won by Lula, and Blue denotes those won by Serra.

President before election Fernando Henrique Cardoso PSDB Elected President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva PT

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General elections were held in Brazil on 6 October 2002, with a second round on 27 October. After three failed attempts, Workers' Party leader Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva succeeded in a presidential election. Nevertheless, he did not manage to obtain the majority of valid votes in the first round; this led the presidential election to a second round, which Lula won with 52.7 million votes (61.3% of the total), becoming at the time the second most voted-for president in the world, after Ronald Reagan in the 1984 American presidential election.

Background

During the second term of the Fernando Henrique Cardoso administration, a serious economic crisis began in Brazil as an impact of the 1997 Asian financial crisis. Commencing shortly after the 1998 elections, when Cardoso was re-elected, as a currency crisis, it resulted in a decrease in growth and employment rates and a rise in public debt. In an environment of distrust and uncertainty for investment, many investors feared the measures that were going to be taken if a left-wing candidate won the election. As a matter of fact, when 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 as Carta 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 the center from Lula and his Workers' Party, which openly defended a transition to socialist economy in the 1989 presidential election.

Results

President

Congress

References

Elections and referendums in Brazil Presidential elections (1891) 1894 1898 1902 1906 1910 1914 1918 1919 1922 1926 1930 (1934) 1945 1950 1955 1960 (1964) (1966) (1969) (1974) (1978) (1985) 1989 1994 1998 2002 2006 2010 2014 Parliamentary elections 1823 1826 1830 1834 1842 1843 1845 1848 1850 1853 1857 1861 1864 1867 1869 1872 1877 1878 1882 1885 1886 1890 1894 1896 1899 1903 1906 1909 1912 1915 1918 1927 1930 1933 1934 1945 1947 1950 1954 1958 1962 1966 1970 1974 1978 1982 1986 1990 1994 1998 2002 2006 2010 2014 Municipal elections 1985 1988 1992 1996 2000 2004 2008 2012 Referendums 1963 1993 2005 Elections in brackets were indirect