Brazilian general election, 1998
Encyclopedia
The 1998 Brazilian general election was held on two rounds
Two-round system
The two-round system is a voting system used to elect a single winner where the voter casts a single vote for their chosen candidate...

. The first round was held on Sunday, October 4. On this date, Fernando Henrique Cardoso
Fernando Henrique Cardoso
Fernando Henrique Cardoso – also known by his initials FHC – was the 34th President of the Federative Republic of Brazil for two terms from January 1, 1995 to December 31, 2002. He is an accomplished sociologist, professor and politician...

 was re-elected President and the governorships of 14 states were defined, in addition to all seats in the Chamber of Deputies
Chamber of Deputies of Brazil
The Chamber of Deputies of Brazil is a federal legislative body and the lower house of the National Congress of Brazil. As of 2006, the chamber comprises 513 deputies, who are elected by proportional representation to serve four-year terms...

 and Legislative Assemblies
Legislative Assembly
Legislative Assembly is the name given in some countries to either a legislature, or to one of its branch.The name is used by a number of member-states of the Commonwealth of Nations, as well as a number of Latin American countries....

, and one third of the seats in the Federal Senate
Senate of Brazil
The Federal Senate of Brazil is the upper house of the National Congress of Brazil. Created by the first Constitution of the Brazilian Empire in 1824, it was inspired by the United Kingdom's House of Lords, but with the Proclamation of the Republic in 1889 it became closer to the United States...

. On the second round, held on October 25, the governorships of 12 states and the Federal District
Brazilian Federal District
The Federal District is set apart for Brasília, the capital of Brazil. Located in a region called Planalto Central, or Central Plateau, the Federal District is divided in 29 administrative regions. Brasilia - place where the three branches of the Federal Government are located - is the main...

 were defined. This election was marked by the use of voting machines for the first time ever. They would have been used in all municipalities two years later, in the 2000 local elections.

This was the third general election held after the promulgation of the 1988 Constitution
Constitution of Brazil
During its independent political history, Brazil has had seven constitutions. The most recent was ratified on October 5, 1988.-Imperial Constitution :Background...

, being also the third time Brazilians voted directly
Direct election
Direct election is a term describing a system of choosing political officeholders in which the voters directly cast ballots for the person, persons or political party that they desire to see elected. The method by which the winner or winners of a direct election are chosen depends upon the...

 for President since the end of the military dictatorship. Shortly before these elections were held, the federal government was able to approve in the National Congress
National Congress of Brazil
The National Congress of Brazil is the legislative body of Brazil's federal government.Unlike regional legislative bodies – Legislative Assemblies and City Councils -, the Congress is bicameral, composed of the Federal Senate and the Chamber of Deputies .The Senate represents the 26 states and...

 a constitutional amendment bill allowing the re-election of members of the Executive branch of government
Executive (government)
Executive branch of Government is the part of government that has sole authority and responsibility for the daily administration of the state bureaucracy. The division of power into separate branches of government is central to the idea of the separation of powers.In many countries, the term...

. There was much discussion about the constitutionality of the bill, and denouncements were made by the press that some parliamentarians were bribe
Bribery
Bribery, a form of corruption, is an act implying money or gift giving that alters the behavior of the recipient. Bribery constitutes a crime and is defined by Black's Law Dictionary as the offering, giving, receiving, or soliciting of any item of value to influence the actions of an official or...

d to vote for the approval of the bill.

Controversies aside, then President Fernando Henrique Cardoso, backed by a coalition that included the three major parties of the time – the Liberal Front Party
Democrats (Brazil)
The Democrats is a centre-right political party in Brazil, considered the main in the right-wing spectrum. Despite its former name , the party affiliates itself to the Centrist Democrat International, and the International Democrat Union. The name comes from its support to free market policies...

, the Brazilian Democratic Movement Party (which offered their informal support to him), and his own Brazilian Social Democratic Party – was able to be re-elected in the first round after achieving 53% of the valid votes. Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva
Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva
Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva , known popularly as Lula, served as the 35th President of Brazil from 2003 to 2010.A founding member of the Workers' Party , he ran for President three times unsuccessfully, first in the 1989 election. Lula achieved victory in the 2002 election, and was inaugurated as...

, a third time candidate for the Workers' Party
Workers' Party (Brazil)
The Workers' Party is a democratic socialist political party in Brazil. Launched in 1980, it is recognized as one of the largest and most important left-wing movements of Latin America. It governs at the federal level in a coalition government with several other parties since January 1, 2003...

, came in second with almost 32% of the votes. Ciro Gomes
Ciro Gomes
Ciro Ferreira Gomes is a Brazilian lawyer and politician. He was a founding member of the then-center-left Brazilian Social Democracy Party , but left the party in 1996. He later moved to the Socialist People's Party and ran as the PPS' presidential candidate in 1998 and 2002...

, then a member of the Socialist People's Party came in third, with almost 11% of the votes.

Historical context

Fernando Henrique Cardoso, better known as FHC, had been inaugurated as President on January 1, 1995, after defeating Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, his main rival in the 1994 election
Brazilian general election, 1994
In October 1994, a general election was held in Brazil. Former Finance Minister Fernando Henrique Cardoso, candidate of the Brazilian Social Democratic Party, won the presidential election in the first round with 54,27% of the votes...

, in the first round
Two-round system
The two-round system is a voting system used to elect a single winner where the voter casts a single vote for their chosen candidate...

 by an advantage of almost 30 million votes. FHC had based his first presidential campaign in the then newly-launched Real Plan and the promise of stabilizing the economy of Brazil
Economy of Brazil
The economy of Brazil is the world's seventh largest by nominal GDP and eighth largest by purchasing power parity. Brazil has moderately free markets and an inward-oriented economy...

. As a matter of fact, the plan had a positive effect during the first years of his administration, being able to curb the exorbitant inflation rate
Inflation rate
In economics, the inflation rate is a measure of inflation, the rate of increase of a price index . It is the percentage rate of change in price level over time. The rate of decrease in the purchasing power of money is approximately equal.The inflation rate is used to calculate the real interest...

s, stabilize the exchange rate, and increase the purchasing power
Purchasing power
Purchasing power is the number of goods/services that can be purchased with a unit of currency. For example, if you had taken one dollar to a store in the 1950s, you would have been able to buy a greater number of items than you would today, indicating that you would have had a greater purchasing...

 of the Brazilian population without shocks
Shock (economics)
In economics a shock is an unexpected or unpredictable event that affects an economy, either positively or negatively. Technically, it refers to an unpredictable change in exogenous factors—that is, factors unexplained by economics—which may have an impact on endogenous economic variables.The...

 or price freezing.

On the very first day of his administration, the Treaty of Asunción
Treaty of Asunción
The Treaty of Asunción was a treaty between the countries of Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay, and Uruguay signed on March 26, 1991. The objective of the treaty, signed in Asunción, was to establish a common market among the participating countries, popularly called Mercosur...

 came into force. Signed by Fernando Collor de Mello
Fernando Collor de Mello
Fernando Affonso Collor de Mello was the 32nd president of Brazil from 1990 to 1992, when he resigned in a failed attempt to stop his trial of impeachment by the Brazilian Senate...

, it predicted the implementation of Mercosur
Mercosur
Mercosur or Mercosul is an economic and political agreement among Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay. Founded in 1991 by the Treaty of Asunción, which was later amended and updated by the 1994 Treaty of Ouro Preto. Its purpose is to promote free trade and the fluid movement of goods, people,...

, a free trade area
Free trade area
A free trade area is a trade bloc whose member countries have signed a free trade agreement , which eliminates tariffs, import quotas, and preferences on most goods and services traded between them. If people are also free to move between the countries, in addition to FTA, it would also be...

 between Brazil, Argentina
Argentina
Argentina , officially the Argentine Republic , is the second largest country in South America by land area, after Brazil. It is constituted as a federation of 23 provinces and an autonomous city, Buenos Aires...

, Uruguay
Uruguay
Uruguay ,officially the Oriental Republic of Uruguay,sometimes the Eastern Republic of Uruguay; ) is a country in the southeastern part of South America. It is home to some 3.5 million people, of whom 1.8 million live in the capital Montevideo and its metropolitan area...

, and Paraguay
Paraguay
Paraguay , officially the Republic of Paraguay , is a landlocked country in South America. It is bordered by Argentina to the south and southwest, Brazil to the east and northeast, and Bolivia to the northwest. Paraguay lies on both banks of the Paraguay River, which runs through the center of the...

. Moreover, the first FHC administration was marked by political and economic reforms, such as the end of the state monopolies in oil
Petrobras
Petróleo Brasileiro or Petrobras is a semi-public Brazilian multinational energy corporation headquartered in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. It is the largest company in Latin America by market capitalization and revenue, and the largest company headquartered in the Southern Hemisphere by market...

 and telecommunications
Telebrás
Telebrás was the Brazilian state-owned monopoly telephone system. It was broken up in July 1998 into twelve separate companies, nicknamed the 'Baby Bras' companies, that were auctioned to private bidders...

, the reform on the social security
Social security
Social security is primarily a social insurance program providing social protection or protection against socially recognized conditions, including poverty, old age, disability, unemployment and others. Social security may refer to:...

 plans, and the change in the concept of "national company". Although approved in the Congress, the reforms carried by the federal government met strong resistance from the opposition, most notably the Workers' Party, which fiercely criticized the privatization
Privatization
Privatization is the incidence or process of transferring ownership of a business, enterprise, agency or public service from the public sector to the private sector or to private non-profit organizations...

 of companies such as Vale do Rio Doce and the constitutional amendment that allowed the re-election of officeholders in the Executive branch. As a result, Peter Mandelson
Peter Mandelson
Peter Benjamin Mandelson, Baron Mandelson, PC is a British Labour Party politician, who was the Member of Parliament for Hartlepool from 1992 to 2004, served in a number of Cabinet positions under both Tony Blair and Gordon Brown, and was a European Commissioner...

, a close aide to then British Prime Minister
Prime Minister of the United Kingdom
The Prime Minister of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is the Head of Her Majesty's Government in the United Kingdom. The Prime Minister and Cabinet are collectively accountable for their policies and actions to the Sovereign, to Parliament, to their political party and...

 and Labour Party
Labour Party (UK)
The Labour Party is a centre-left democratic socialist party in the United Kingdom. It surpassed the Liberal Party in general elections during the early 1920s, forming minority governments under Ramsay MacDonald in 1924 and 1929-1931. The party was in a wartime coalition from 1940 to 1945, after...

 leader Tony Blair
Tony Blair
Anthony Charles Lynton Blair is a former British Labour Party politician who served as the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 2 May 1997 to 27 June 2007. He was the Member of Parliament for Sedgefield from 1983 to 2007 and Leader of the Labour Party from 1994 to 2007...

, stated that the Workers' Party's proposals represented "an old-fashioned and out-of-date socialism
Socialism
Socialism is an economic system characterized by social ownership of the means of production and cooperative management of the economy; or a political philosophy advocating such a system. "Social ownership" may refer to any one of, or a combination of, the following: cooperative enterprises,...

". At that time, FHC-Blair relations were magnified, once both of them were adherents of the Third Way
Third way (centrism)
The Third Way refers to various political positions which try to reconcile right-wing and left-wing politics by advocating a varying synthesis of right-wing economic and left-wing social policies. Third Way approaches are commonly viewed from within the first- and second-way perspectives as...

.

Despite its political victories, the government needed to impose measures to cool down the domestic demand and help the trade balance, which eventually caused unemployment
Unemployment
Unemployment , as defined by the International Labour Organization, occurs when people are without jobs and they have actively sought work within the past four weeks...

 to grow and made the economy show signs of recession
Recession
In economics, a recession is a business cycle contraction, a general slowdown in economic activity. During recessions, many macroeconomic indicators vary in a similar way...

. Other areas, such as health
Health
Health is the level of functional or metabolic efficiency of a living being. In humans, it is the general condition of a person's mind, body and spirit, usually meaning to be free from illness, injury or pain...

, education
Education
Education in its broadest, general sense is the means through which the aims and habits of a group of people lives on from one generation to the next. Generally, it occurs through any experience that has a formative effect on the way one thinks, feels, or acts...

 and land reform
Land reform
[Image:Jakarta farmers protest23.jpg|300px|thumb|right|Farmers protesting for Land Reform in Indonesia]Land reform involves the changing of laws, regulations or customs regarding land ownership. Land reform may consist of a government-initiated or government-backed property redistribution,...

 also suffered major crises. The violent conflict in the countryside reached its peak with the Eldorado dos Carajás massacre
Eldorado dos Carajás massacre
The Eldorado dos Carajás massacre was the killing of nineteen landless farmers who were demonstrating for the disappropriation of an unproductive ranch...

. Thus, FHC's reelection campaign was based on the idea that the continuity of his government was essential for the stabilization to reach areas other than the economy, such as health, agriculture, employment, education, and public security
Public security
To meet the increasing challenges in the public security area, responsible public institutions and organisations can tap into their own intelligence to successfully address possible threats in advance...

.

Candidates

The 1998 presidential race had twelve candidates, the largest number of candidates since the 1989 election
Brazilian presidential election, 1989
The Brazilian presidential election of 1989 was the first direct presidential election in Brazil since 1960.-Historical context:On January 15, 1985, Tancredo Neves won the election for president on the electoral college, represented by Deputies and Senators, putting an end to the 21-year-old...

, when over twenty candidacies were launched. The number could have been as high as fifteen, but the Electoral Justice withdrew the candidacy of impeached President Fernando Collor de Mello, while Oswaldo Souza Oliveira and João Olivar Farias declined to run.

The Brazilian Social Democratic Party reprised the coalition which had elected FHC four years prior, comprising the Liberal Front Party
Democrats (Brazil)
The Democrats is a centre-right political party in Brazil, considered the main in the right-wing spectrum. Despite its former name , the party affiliates itself to the Centrist Democrat International, and the International Democrat Union. The name comes from its support to free market policies...

 and the Brazilian Labour Party
Brazilian Labour Party (current)
The Brazilian Labour Party is a center-right political party in Brazil founded in 1981 by Ivete Vargas, niece of President Getúlio Vargas. It claims the legacy of the historical PTB, although many historians reject this because the early version of PTB was a center-left party with wide support in...

. They were joined by the Progressive Party
Progressive Party (Brazil)
The Progressive party is a centre-right Brazilian political party embracing conservatism and elements of populism and liberalism....

, the Social Democratic Party
Social Democratic Party (Brazil)
The Social Democratic Party was a liberal political party in Brazil between 1945 and 1965. Founded as a center-right party by Getúlio Vargas together with the left-leaning Brazilian Labour Party, it elected Presidents Eurico Gaspar Dutra in 1945 and Juscelino Kubitschek de Oliveira in 1955...

, and the Social Liberal Party
Social Liberal Party (Brazil)
The Social Liberal Party is a liberal party in Brazil. At the legislative elections, 6 October 2002, the party won 1 out of 513 seats in the Chamber of Deputies and no seats in the Senate. In 2006 didn't win seats in the Chamber of Deputies and in the Senate...

. Once again, Liberal Front member Marco Maciel
Marco Maciel
Marco Antônio de Oliveira Maciel is a Brazilian politician. He is a lawyer and a law school professor. He was a founder of the conservative PFL party, former ARENA and was twice elected vice-president in the same ticket as center-right President Fernando Henrique Cardoso, in 1994 and 1998...

 was FHC's running mate.

The Workers' Party
Workers' Party (Brazil)
The Workers' Party is a democratic socialist political party in Brazil. Launched in 1980, it is recognized as one of the largest and most important left-wing movements of Latin America. It governs at the federal level in a coalition government with several other parties since January 1, 2003...

 reprised its past two candidacies, by launching Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva as its candidate and forming a coalition with the Communist Party of Brazil
Communist Party of Brazil
The Communist Party of Brazil is a political party in Brazil. It has national reach and deep penetration in the trade union and students movements. PCdoB dispute with the Brazilian Communist Party the title of "oldest political party in Brazil"...

, and the Brazilian Socialist Party
Brazilian Socialist Party
The Brazilian Socialist Party , is a political party in Brazil. It was founded in 1947, before being abolished by the military regime in 1965 and re-organized in 1985 with the re-democratization of Brazil. It elected six Governors in 2010, becoming the second largest party in number of state...

. The novelty in this election was the choice of Leonel Brizola
Leonel Brizola
Leonel de Moura Brizola was a Brazilian politician. Launched in politics by Getúlio Vargas, Brizola was the only politician to serve as governor of two different states in the whole history of Brazil. In 1959 he was elected governor of Rio Grande do Sul, and in 1982 and 1990 he was elected...

 from the Democratic Labour Party
Democratic Labour Party (Brazil)
The Democratic Labour Party is a populist, democratic socialist political party of Brazil. It was founded in 1979 by left-wing leader Leonel Brizola as an attempt to reorganize the Brazilian leftist forces during the end of the Brazilian military dictatorship...

 as his running mate. Prior to that, the Workers' Party refrained from forming coalitions with parties linked to varguista
Getúlio Vargas
Getúlio Dornelles Vargas served as President of Brazil, first as dictator, from 1930 to 1945, and in a democratically elected term from 1951 until his suicide in 1954. Vargas led Brazil for 18 years, the most for any President, and second in Brazilian history to Emperor Pedro II...

labour unions as a way of sustaining its union branch, the Central Única dos Trabalhadores
Central Única dos Trabalhadores
-See also:*Confederação Geral dos Trabalhadores*Força Sindical-External links:...

, as independent. As a result, the United Socialist Workers' Party
United Socialist Workers' Party
The Unified Socialist Workers' Party is a Trotskyist organisation in Brazil. It is the largest section of the International Workers' League , an international body of groups in the Morenoist tradition....

 left the coalition and launched José Maria de Almeida
José Maria de Almeida
José Maria de Almeida often known as Zé Maria is a leader of the United Socialist Workers' Party .He was their candidate for president of Brazil in the Brazilian general election, 2002 and 2010.-External links:*...

 as its candidate.

Former Ceará
Ceará
Ceará is one of the 27 states of Brazil, located in the northeastern part of the country, on the Atlantic coast. It is currently the 8th largest Brazilian State by population and the 17th by area. It is also one of the main touristic destinations in Brazil. The state capital is the city of...

 state Governor Ciro Gomes
Ciro Gomes
Ciro Ferreira Gomes is a Brazilian lawyer and politician. He was a founding member of the then-center-left Brazilian Social Democracy Party , but left the party in 1996. He later moved to the Socialist People's Party and ran as the PPS' presidential candidate in 1998 and 2002...

 run for President, and, therefore, his Socialist People's Party
Socialist People's Party (Brazil)
The Socialist People's Party is a political party in Brazil.It was founded in 1992, after the Brazilian Communist Party decided to rename itself the Socialist People's Party as part of a political realignment following the collapse of the Soviet Union.The PPS was a part of the coalition government...

 did not join the Workers' Party coalition as they did in the previous election. After Oswaldo Souza Oliveira's quit the race, his Party of the Nation's Retirees
Party of the Nation's Retirees
The PAN or Partido dos Aposentados da Nação is a centrist Brazilian political party founded on November 22, 1995...

 decided to support Gomes.

After securing the third place in the 1994 election, Enéas Carneiro
Enéas Carneiro
Enéas Ferreira Carneiro was a Brazilian politician. He represented the state of São Paulo in the National Chamber of Deputies and ran for the presidency three times as a perennial candidate...

 from the far-right Party of the Reconstruction of the National Order
Party of the Reconstruction of the National Order
The Party of the Reconstruction of the National Order was a nationalist political party in Brazil, founded in 1990, merged, in 2006 in Republic Party...

 also run in 1998. This time, however, he only received 1.4 million votes, against 4.6 million in 1994.

This election also brought the second woman candidate ever: Thereza Tinajero Ruiz from the National Labour Party
National Labour Party (Brazil)
The National Labour Party is a tiny populist-centrist Brazilian political party originally founded in 1945.It was founded by dissidents from the Brazilian Labor Party in 1945, and supported the winning candidacy of Jânio Quadros in 1960. It was abolished by the military regime in 1965.It was...

, which replaced Dorival Masci de Abreu.

External links

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