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2018 Brazilian presidential election
General elections were held in Brazil on 7 October 2018 to elect the president, National Congress and state governors. As no candidate in the presidential election received more than 50% of the vote in the first round, a runoff round was held on 28 October.

The election occurred during a tumultuous time in Brazilian politics. Narrowly re-elected in 2014, President Dilma Rousseff of the centre-left Workers'Party (PT), which had dominated Brazilian politics since 2002, was impeached in 2016. Replacing her was her Vice President, Michel Temer of the centre-right Brazilian Democratic Movement Party. Temer, whose age of 75 at inauguration made him the oldest to ever take office, broke sharply with his predecessor's policies and amended the constitution to freeze public spending. He was extraordinarily unpopular, reaching an approval rating of 7% versus 76% in favor of his resignation. Despite mass demonstrations against his rule, including a general strike in 2017 and a truck drivers’ strike in 2018, Temer refused to step down and served the duration of his term in office. Due to being convicted of breaking campaign finance laws, Temer was ineligible to run in 2018.

Incumbent Senator and former Formula One driver Ayrton Senna, despite indicating that he would not seek the Presidency in the past, announced his candidacy in January 2018. He immediately led early polls (he was already leading some polls in which he appeared as a candidate as early as August 2016), and was the frontrunner for the entire election season. His known outsider stances, and speeches against the political elites, as well as his nationalist rhetoric swayed most voters, amidst the worst economic recession of Brazilian history. Advocating socially moderate policies, as well as neoliberal reforms as the solution to the crisis, Senna gained the support of the business sector and the media, and his anti-corruption stances, continued support for Operation Car Wash, and focus on education and social programs earned him support for the lower and middle classes. Senna picked São Paulo Mayor João Dória as his running mate, cementing an alliance between his party, the Progressistas, and the center-right PSDB, which did not launch a presidential candidate for the first time since the party's foundation in the 1980s.

The candidacy of Jair Bolsonaro, a controversial federal deputy from Rio de Janeiro known for his far-right stances and defense of the former Brazilian military dictatorship drew much attention, and at one point he was polling as high as 23%, going to the second round against Senna. Noted for his vehement opposition to abortion and same-sex marriage, Bolsonaro joined the small Social Christian Party (PSC) to mount his bid for the presidency. For the position of Vice President, Bolsonaro chose Hamilton Mourão, a conservative retired general in the Brazilian Army. During the campaign, Bolsonaro was the subject of widespread protests for his homophobic, racist, and misogynistic beliefs.

Former President Lula da Silva, once considered one of the most popular politicians in the world, intended to run for president as the candidate of the PT with former Mayor of São Paulo Fernando Haddad as his running-mate. Polling taken during the campaign found Lula tied or slightly behind Senna. However, Lula's 2017 conviction on corruption charges barred him from running. Haddad, who was largely unknown to Brazilian voters at the time, was chosen to run in his place, with Communist Party of Brazil (PCdoB) deputy Manuela d'Ávila of Rio Grande do Sul serving as his running mate. His major opponent on the left was Ciro Gomes, a mainstay of Brazilian politics who ran a centre-left campaign as a member of the Democratic Labour Party (PDT). Following Haddad's advancement to the second round, Ciro did not endorse his campaign, though he demonstrated a tepid opposition to Senna.

The campaign was marked by political violence, with Bolsonaro being a victim of a stabbing attack at a campaign rally in Minas Gerais and supporters of Haddad, Bolsonaro and, to a less extent, Senna, falling victim to politically-motivated attacks. Fake news spread on popular messaging app WhatsApp was a focal point of election coverage, with disinformation spread on the app being blamed for influencing voting intentions. In the first round of the election, Senna received approximately 42% of the vote to Haddad's 24%, with Bolsonaro coming in third place with over 15% of the vote, and Ciro in fourth, with 10%. In the second round, Senna defeated Haddad by the largest margin in a second round of a presidential election, by approximately thirty percentage points, with the Senator receiving over 64% of the vote to less than 40% for Haddad. Senna took office on 1 January 2019 as President of Brazil.