BRASÍLIA, July 25 — The whir of electronic voting machines echoes through schools and community centers across Brazil’s 27 states and the Federal District this morning, as millions of citizens file into polling stations for presidential and congressional elections. Lines move steadily under the tropical sun, voters clutching their identification cards, many of them performing a civic duty that is legally required. By nightfall, the first returns will begin streaming in, and the country will start to see whether any candidate clears the high bar needed to avoid a runoff.
Brazil elects its president to a four-year term through a two-round system that demands an absolute majority — 50 percent plus one vote. If no contender reaches that threshold today, the two top finishers will face off in a second round later.
Voting is compulsory for literate citizens between the ages of 18 and 70; those aged 16 and 17, citizens over 70, and illiterate voters may cast ballots voluntarily. That universal obligation traces back to the 1932 Electoral Code, which introduced compulsory voting, and the 1988 Constitution, which lowered the voting age from 18 to 16 and granted voluntary suffrage to illiterate citizens. On the ground in Brasília, residents describe a brisk but orderly turnout.
Poll workers guide voters to the electronic terminals, the same machines Brazil has used for years — a system that tallies results quickly and, officials say, reduces the risk of fraud.
The process is familiar to an electorate that has lived through three national referendums: the first, on January 6, 1963, saw 82 percent vote to re-establish the presidential system; the second, on April 21, 1993, approved both the republican form of government and the presidential system as mandated by the 1988 Constitution; and the most recent, on October 23, 2005, rejected a ban on personal firearms and ammunition by a 64 percent margin.
Congress: A Fragmented Picture
While the presidency grabs the headlines, the composition of the National Congress is equally consequential — and far more complex. The Chamber of Deputies has 513 members elected every four years through open-list proportional representation, using the D’Hondt method to allocate seats across 27 multi-member constituencies that range from 8 to 70 seats each.
That open-list system means voters choose either a party or a specific candidate, and seats are distributed based on each party’s total vote share, then assigned to the individual candidates with the most votes within the party list. The same formula — open-list PR with a threshold of V/n votes — governs elections for state legislative assemblies and city councils.
The Federal Senate, by contrast, operates on a different logic. Its 81 members serve eight-year terms, with elections staggered so that every four years either one-third or two-thirds of the seats are up for a vote. Each of the 27 federal units — the 26 states plus the Federal District — elects three senators, and the winners are chosen by a straightforward first-past-the-post plurality system that does not produce proportional outcomes.
The Senate’s staggered cycle means that today’s election will fill either a third or two-thirds of the chamber, depending on the rotation.
The Coalition Calculus
Brazil’s multi-party system is among the most fragmented in the world. The effective number of parties is high, and no single party typically wins a majority in either chamber. That reality forces presidents to assemble unwieldy coalition governments drawn from the sprawling ideological spectrum of Brazilian politics — from the left to the center to the conservative right.
Today’s results will determine not only who occupies the Planalto Palace but also whether the next president can govern with a stable base in Congress or must bargain for every vote. Polling stations close at 5 p.m. local time in most of the country.
By then, the electronic machines will have recorded tens of millions of votes, and the count will begin almost immediately. With no candidate poised to reach an absolute majority in the first round, the scene across Brazil tonight will be one of anticipation. The real prize may not be decided until a second round, weeks from now, when the two remaining contenders make their final appeals to a nation that has already voted once.
Sources
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