Parliamentary elections were held in the Empire of Brazil on 31 October 1881 to elect members of the 18th legislature of the Chamber of Deputies. These were the first direct elections held in the country after the Saraiva Law was enacted (Law No. 3,029 of 9 January 1881). The Liberal Party won 74 seats while the Conservative Party won 48. The chamber was later dissolved on 3 September 1884.

Background On 15 December 1875 emperor Pedro II of Brazil called the liberal João Lins Cansanção, the Viscount of Sinimbu, to head a new cabinet with the goal of establishing direct voting in the country. The expected reform was amidst the country's electoral, military, religious, and slavery crises. Sinimbu's bill proposed raising the minimum yearly income threshold to vote from 200 to 400 thousand réis and also prohibiting illiterates to vote. The bill, a constitutional reform, was approved in the Chamber of Deputies on 9 June 1879, but was rejected in the Senate on 12 November, and thus Sinimbu's cabinet fell. The new prime minister who followed, also a liberal, José Antônio Saraiva, took over on 28 March 1880 and managed to approve his own bill, the Saraiva Law, on 9 January 1881. The law introduced direct voting in the country, but prohibited the illiterate to vote, and so the number of electors in the country fell from over a million, or about 13% of the country's free adult population, to just over 100,000, less than 1% of the same group.

Results

Results by province Province or neutral municipalityDistrictsLiberalsConservativesElected votesTotal votesAlagoas5411,8133,343Amazonas211399664Bahia141138,32214,449Ceará8533,5926,777Espírito Santo22– 7391,426Goiás22– 1,0102,256Maranhão6422,2023,747Mato Grosso22– 6761,230Minas Gerais2014610,64117,912Neutral Municipality and Rio de Janeiro122107,65213,916Pará3– 32,3214,304Paraíba5231,6913,067Paraná22– 1,0931,775Pernambuco13585,3449,757Piauí33– 1,7452,894Rio Grande do Norte2111,3242,423Rio Grande do Sul66– 5,60710,313Santa Catarina2111,1272,243São Paulo9635,76511,126Sergipe4131,5642,649Source: Câmara dos Deputados

Elected members by province Alagoas DistrictMemberPartyVotes1stTomás do Bonfim EspindolaLiberal4552ndManuel Joaquim de Mendonça Castelo BrancoConservative3473rdFrancisco Ildefonso Ribeiro de MenezesLiberal2764thLourenço Cavalcanti de AlbuquerqueLiberal3395thTeófilo Fernandes dos SantosLiberal396Source:

Amazonas +DistrictMemberPartyVotes1stAntônio dos Passos MirandaConservative1102ndAdriano Xavier de Olivera PimentelLiberal289Source:

Bahia DistrictMemberPartyVotes1stJoaquim Elísio Pereira MarinhoConservative7632ndRuy BarbosaLiberal4433rdFrancisco Prisco de Sousa ParaísoLiberal6884thFrancisco Maria Sodré PereiraLiberal6495thIldefonso José de AraújoLiberal6316thAntônio Carneiro da RochaLiberal8537thJoão Ferreira de Araújo PinhoConservative6678thJoão Ferreira de MouraLiberal5279thRodolfo Epifanio de Sousa DantasLiberal52310thAristides Cesar Spinola ZamaLiberal62911thAntônio Rodrigues LimaLiberal66012thJuvencio Alves de SousaLiberal60713thAristides de Sousa SpinolaLiberal24114thFrancisco Bonifácio de AbreuConservative441Source:

Ceará DistrictMemberPartyVotes1stMeton da Franca AlencarLiberal5602ndAntônio Pinto de MendonçaConservative5223rdJosé Pompeu de Albuquerque CavalcantiLiberal4834thAntônio Joaquim Rodrigues JuniorLiberal4175thPaulino Franklin do AmaralConservative4136thLeandro de Chaves Mello RatisbonaLiberal4107thTomás Pompeu de Sousa BrasilLiberal3688thAlvaro Caminha Tavares da SilvaConservative391Source:

Espírito Santo DistrictMemberPartyVotes1stDaniel Accioli de AzevedoLiberal3812ndLeopoldo Augusto Deocleciano de Mello e CunhaLiberal358Source:

Goiás DistrictMemberPartyVotes1stAndré Augusto de Padua FleuryLiberal3322ndJosé Leopoldo de Bulhões JardimLiberal678Source:

Maranhão DistrictMemberPartyVotes1stJosé da Silva MaiaConservative5992ndFelippe Franco de SáLiberal3343rdAugusto Olympio Gomes de CastroConservative4764thSalustiano Ferreira de Moraes RegoLiberal2055thSinval Odorico de MouraLiberal2646thJosé Vianna VazLiberal321Source:

Mato Grosso DistrictMemberPartyVotes1stAntônio Gonçalves de CarvalhoLiberal2772ndAugusto César de Pádua FleuryLiberal399Source:

Minas Gerais DistrictMemberPartyVotes1stCarlos Afonso de Assis FigueiredoLiberal4602ndCandido Luiz Maria de OliveiraLiberal4723rdAfonso Augusto Moreira PenaLiberal4994thIgnacio Antônio de Assis MartinsLiberal5445thMartinho Álvares da Silva CamposLiberal4816thFrancisco Ignacio de Carvalho RezendeConservative7007thJosé Rodrigues de Lima DuarteLiberal6788thCarlos Vaz de MeloLiberal6139thJosé de Resende MonteiroConservative75310thJoão Nogueira PenidoLiberal58711thJosé Manoel Pereira CabralConservative70512thFrancisco Silviano de Almeida BrandãoLiberal75013thOlympio Oscar de Vilhena ValadãoConservative70314thManoel José SoaresConservative56115thJoão Caetano de Oliveira e SousaConservative40316thEduardo Augusto MontandonLiberal36417thJoão da Matta MachadoLiberal32618thJoaquim Vieira de AndradeLiberal29619thAntônio Felicio dos SantosLiberal25420thAfonso Celso de Assis Figueiredo JuniorLiberal449Source:

Neutral Municipality and Rio de Janeiro DistrictMemberPartyVotes1stLuiz Joaquim Duque Estrada TeixeiraConservative9582ndJoaquim Antônio Fernandes de OliveiraConservative7573rdAdolfo Bezerra de MenezesLiberal8594thPaulino José Soares de SousaConservative8025thFrancisco Belisario Soares de SousaConservative5506thManoel Rodrigues PeixotoLiberal6477thJoão de Almeida PereiraConservative6218thAlfredo Rodrigues Fernandes ChavesConservative3979thJoão Manoel Pereira da SilvaConservative54610thManoel Peixoto de Lacerda WerneckConservative48411thDomingos de Andrade FigueiraConservative58112thAntônio Ferreira ViannaConservative450Source:

Pará DistrictMemberPartyVotes1stJosé Ferreira CantãoConservative1,0082ndGuilherme Francisco da CruzConservative5883rdSamuel Wallace MacDowell IIIConservative725Source:

Paraíba DistrictMemberPartyVotes1stAnisio Salathiel Carneiro da CunhaConservative4562ndManoel Tertuliano Tomás HenriqueConservative3163rdJosé Evaristo da Cruz GouveiaConservative2654thManoel Carlos de GouveiaLiberal2995thAntônio Alves de Sousa CarvalhoLiberal355Source:

Paraná DistrictMemberPartyVotes1stGeneroso Marques dos SantosLiberal4922ndManoel Alves de AraújoLiberal601Source:

Pernambuco DistrictMemberPartyVotes1stManoel do Nascimento Machado PortellaConservative7252ndJosé Mariano Carneiro da CunhaLiberal7153rdManoel da Trindade PerettiConservative3954thJoaquim Tavares de Mello BarretoLiberal3025thFrancisco do Rego Barros de LacerdaConservative3316thHenrique Marques de Holanda CavalcantiConservative3047thIgnacio Joaquim de Sousa LeãoConservative3628thFrancisco de Caldas LinsConservative4809thJosé Bernardo Galvão Alcoforado JuniorConservative23710thUlysses Machado Pereira ViannaLiberal31311thFrancisco Seraphico de Assis CarvalhoLiberal27512thAntônio Gonçalves FerreiraConservative32813thAntônio Manoel de Siqueira CavalcantiLiberal531Source:

Piauí DistrictMemberPartyVotes1stCandido Gil Castelo BrancoLiberal5442ndJosé Basson de Miranda OsórioLiberal4053rdFranklin Américo de Menezes DóriaLiberal796Source:

Rio Grande do Norte DistrictMemberPartyVotes1stAmaro Carneiro Bezerra CavalcantiLiberal5212ndTarquínio Bráulio de Sousa AmarantoConservative803Source:

Rio Grande do Sul DistrictMemberPartyVotes1stAntônio Eleutério de CamargoLiberal1,3192ndAntônio Antunes RibasLiberal7113rdHenrique Francisco de ÁvilaLiberal7584thFrancisco Antunes MacielLiberal9475thJosé Francisco DianaLiberal1,0856thFelisberto Pereira da SilvaLiberal807Source:

Santa Catarina DistrictMemberPartyVotes1stAlfredo de Escragnolle TaunayConservative6482ndManoel da Silva MafraLiberal479Source:

São Paulo DistrictMemberPartyVotes1stLaurindo Abelardo de BritoLiberal6562ndAntônio Moreira de BarrosLiberal6763rdJosé Luiz de Almeida NogueiraConservative7894thBento Francisco de Paula e SousaLiberal5515thMartim Francisco Ribeiro de Andrada FilhoLiberal5756thMartim Francisco Ribeiro de AndradeLiberal3517thFrancisco Antônio de Sousa Queiroz FilhoLiberal6678thAntônio da Costa Pinto e SilvaConservative5729thAntônio Pinheiro de Ulhôa CintraConservative748Source:

Sergipe DistrictMemberPartyVotes1stGraciliano Arístides do Prado PimentelLiberal5192ndAntônio Dias Coelho e MeloLiberal3933rdGeminiano Brasil de Oliveira GóisConservative2734thJosé Luiz Coelho e CamposConservative379Source:

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