Presidential elections were held in Brazil in 1989, with the first round on November 15 and a second round on December 17. They were the first direct presidential elections since 1960, the first to be held using a two-round system and the first to take place under the 1988 constitution, which followed two decades of authoritarian rule after the 1964 Brazilian coup d'état.

The collapse of the military-imposed two-party system that pitted the right-wing authoritarian National Renewal Alliance (ARENA) against the catch-all Brazilian Democratic Movement (MDB) resulted in a wide array of new parties seeking to fill the political vacuum. President José Sarney of the PMDB, the MDB's successor, was ineligible to run. Sarney, who was elected Vice President on Tancredo Neves's ticket in the 1985 elections, had taken office due to Neves's death before his scheduled inauguration.

Popular Governor of Alagoas Fernando Collor de Mello resigned from his position to mount a bid for the presidency. Previously a member of the PMDB, Collor joined the small National Reconstruction Party (PRN) in the run-up to the presidential campaign. Collor, who presented himself as a political outsider and was noted for his charisma, polled at a mere 5% according to polling taken in early 1989. Collor's emergence as an unlikely frontrunner was credited to his campaign's skilled use of television advertisements to make the case for his candidacy. Collor, who had governed one of the smallest states in the country, chose Senator Itamar Franco of the populous and electorally crucial state of Minas Gerais as his running mate. Further, Collor's campaign was noted for his relative youth at the mere age of 40.

Following the end of state repression of socialist parties, the Brazilian Left faced a fractured field defined by two primary candidates: Popular labour leader Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, known as Lula, of the industrial ABC Region of São Paulo, and Leonel Brizola, a longtime staple of the Brazilian Left who had served as Governor of Rio Grande do Sul prior to the 1964 military coup. Lula was widely known in Brazil for his role leading the highly publicized metalworkers' strike in the State of São Paulo during the late 1970s and had been elected a federal deputy in 1986 with the most votes nationwide. Lula ran as a member of the Workers' Party (PT), a left-wing party he helped found in 1980. For his running mate, Lula chose Senator José Paulo Bisol of Rio Grande do Sul, a member of the Brazilian Socialist Party (PSB), to unite the left. In the first round, Lula narrowly defeated Brizola, who was running as a member of the Democratic Labour Party (PDT), for a position in the runoff.Jacky Picard, ed. Le Brésil de Lula: Les défis d'un socialisme démocratique à la périphérie du capitalisme. Paris: Khartala, 2003, page 81

The general election was marked by negative campaigning, with Collor accusing Lula of supporting divisive class struggle. The role of Rede Globo, the largest and most-watched TV network in Brazil, in Collor's election remains controversial. Following a tumultuous election cycle, Collor defeated Lula to become the first directly elected President of Brazil in almost thirty years. Collor would later resign from office facing an impending impeachment trial.

Background

On January 15, 1985, following two decades of a US-backed right-wing military dictatorship, in power since the 1964 Brazilian coup d'état, Tancredo Neves of the Brazilian Democratic Movement, the opposition party in a military junta-imposed two-party system, was indirectly elected president by Congress. The government was an authoritarian illiberal democracy which directly elected representatives, but not the president. It was in a process of slow liberalization since the 1974 indirect election of Ernesto Geisel, who was more permissive of political dissent than his hard-liner predecessor, Emílio Garrastazu Médici. Neves was the first civilian to be elected president since 1960.

However, Neves was hospitalized of an untreated cancer on the eve of his inauguration, and finally died in 21 April, before taking office. José Sarney, the Vice-president-elect, was immediately sworn in. The legitimacy of Sarney's appointment was widely questioned, since Neves had died as president-elect without ever taking office. Sarney was seen with suspicion by the civilian population as a member of the military regime's party, the National Renewal Alliance. The support of General Leônidas Pires Gonçalves, slated to be Minister of the Army in Neves' future cabinet, was decisive for Sarney taking office.

Nevertheless, as promised by Neves, Sarney led a transitional government which allowed for liberalization of the authoritarian military government. In 1986, he called for elections to form a constituent assembly, which designed and promulgated the seventh and current constitution of Brazil on October 5, 1988. A markedly liberal democratic and social democratic constitution, it prescribed first-past-the-post two-round direct elections for executive and legislative seats at the federal, state, and municipal levels, and set the date for the 1989 election. It also provided for freedom of expression and legalized formerly clandestine parties such as the Brazilian Communist Party and the Brazilian Socialist Party.

Candidates Candidates in the runoff Party Presidential candidate Running mate Coalition National Reconstruction Party Fernando CollorGovernor of Alagoas (1987–1989) Itamar FrancoSenator from Minas Gerais New Brazil: National Reconstruction Party Renewal Labour Party Social Christian Party Social Labour Party Workers' Party Lula da SilvaFederal Deputy José Paulo Bisol (PSB)Senator from Rio Grande do Sul Popular Brazil Front: Workers' Party Brazilian Socialist Party Communist Party of Brazil

Candidates not advanced to runoff Party Presidential candidate Running mate Coalition Brazilian Communist Party Roberto FreireFederal Deputy Sérgio AroucaPresident of Fiocruz (1985–1989) Brazilian Labour Party Affonso Camargo NettoSenator from Paraná José Roberto Faria Lima Brazilian Municipalist Party Armando CorrêaPresident of the party Agostinho Linhares Brazilian People's Party Antônio PedreiraPresident of the party Orestes Ferreira Alves Brazilian Social Democracy Party Mário CovasSenator from São Paulo Almir GabrielSenator from Pará Democratic Labour Party Leonel BrizolaGovernor of Rio de Janeiro (1983–1987) Fernando LyraFederal Deputy Democratic Social Party Paulo MalufGovernor of São Paulo (1979–1982) Bonifácio de AndradaFederal Deputy Green Party Fernando Gabeira Maurício Lobo Abreu Liberal Party Guilherme AfifFederal Deputy Aluísio Pimenta (PDC) Christian Liberal Alliance: Liberal Party Christian Democratic Party National Communitarian Party Zamir José Teixeira William Pereira da SilvaPresident of the party Nationalist Party Lívia Maria Pio Ardwin Retto Grünewald National Mobilization Party Celso BrantPresident of the party José Natan Brazilian Democratic Movement Party Ulysses GuimarãesFederal Deputy Waldir PiresGovernor of Bahia (1987–1989) Christian Democracy Party of Brazil Manoel Horta Jorge Coelho de Sá Liberal Front Party Aureliano ChavesMinister of Mines and Energy (1985–1988) Cláudio LemboSecretary of Legal Affairs of São Paulo (1986–1989) Party of the Reconstruction of the National Order Enéas CarneiroPresident of the party Lenine Madeira People's Party Paulo GontijoPresident of the party Luiz Paulino Progressive Liberal Party Eudes Mattar Dante Lazzaroni Júnior Social Democratic Party Ronaldo CaiadoLeader of the Ruralist Democratic Union Camillo Calazans (PDN) City-Country Union: Social Democratic Party National Democratic Party Social Progressive Party MarronzinhoPresident of the party Reinaldo Valim

Campaign Most political parties were relatively new but managed to actively mobilise the population, with the election coming five years after massive demonstrations for direct elections in the late 1980s Diretas Já movement had called for the end of the military regime. Sarney was barred by the 1988 constitution from running for immediate reelection as a vice president ascending to the office of president counts as a full term.

Twenty-two candidates entered the race, a record number of candidates in a single presidential election. The 1989 elections were the first in which the president and vice-president were jointly elected as running mates.

Among the twenty-two candidates, only Ulysses Guimarães and Paulo Maluf had previously run for the presidency, although Jânio Quadros planned to run but eventually dropped his candidacy. Aureliano Chaves had also previously served as vice-president. Orestes Quercia, a member of Sarney's Brazilian Democratic Movement, led the polls until he decided to drop out of the contest. TV host Silvio Santos announced he would run just 20 days before the election, but his candidacy was mired in uncertainty and eventually revoked by the Superior Electoral Court because of a technicality.

The first round took place on November 15, 1989, the 100th anniversary of the republican coup which deposed Pedro II of Brazil and proclaimed the First Brazilian Republic. Since no candidate managed to win a majority of votes, a second round was held on December 17, featuring the two top finishers: Fernando Collor de Mello of the economically liberal right-wing populist National Reconstruction Party and Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva of the social democratic left-wing populist Workers' Party.

Both candidates had a reputation as outsiders. Despite being a charismatic leader, Lula failed to attract the majority of votes from poor, unskilled and semiskilled workers – who would, later on, form the basis of the Workers' Party electorate. These voters predominantly favored Collor, who was associated with the traditional economic elites of northeastern Brazil. Lula's support was greater among progressive intellectuals, Catholic activists, skilled industrial workers, and the college-educated middle class of the South and Southeast, despite himself being a poor immigrant from the Northeast.

Collor argued that Lula's plans of aggressive spending on inequality reduction programs would destroy Brazil's then-fragile economy, harming the poor people he claimed to champion. He also appealed to his young age and distanced himself from the previous military governments, as well as from the newer political elites who had supported the Sarney government and its Plano Cruzado, which had failed to stop hyperinflation.

After Leonel Brizola was defeated in the first round, he supported Lula, with his support being considered crucial to Lula's strong performance in Rio Grande do Sul in the second round.Wendy Hunter, The Transformation of the Workers' Party in Brazil, 1989–2009. Cambridge University Press, 2010, , page 111

Ultimately, Collor was elected with a six-point lead. His initial widespread support, based on his strong rhetoric against corruption, quickly vanished in the wake of his 1992 impeachment for corruption charges, leading to Collor resigning from office in an unsuccessful attempt to stop the proceedings. Lula would go on to be elected president for the first time in the 2002 elections, win a second term in the 2006 contest and be elected president for the second time in the 2022 elections. The Workers' Party also won the presidency twice more with Dilma Rousseff, a protégé of Lula, in the 2010 and 2014 elections. The party would remain in power until her impeachment in 2016 and the 2018 election of right-wing populist Jair Bolsonaro.

Debates First round