1950 Brazilian general election explained
| Country: | Brazil |
| Flag Year: | 1889 |
| Election Date: | 3 October 1950 |
| Module: | | Embed: | yes | | Election Name: | President | | Previous Election: | 1945 Brazilian presidential election | | Previous Year: | 1945 | | Next Election: | 1955 Brazilian presidential election | | Next Year: | 1955 | | Type: | presidential | | Candidate1: | Getúlio Vargas | | Image1: | 17 - Getúlio Dorneles Vargas 1951 (cropped).jpg | | Party1: | Brazilian Labour Party (historical) | | Popular Vote1: | 3,849,040 | | Percentage1: | 48.73% | | Candidate2: | Eduardo Gomes | | Party2: | National Democratic Union (Brazil) | | Popular Vote2: | 2,342,384 | | Percentage2: | 29.66% | | Candidate3: | Cristiano Machado | | Image3: | Cristiano Machado vota na eleição presidencial de 1950 (cropped).tif | | Party3: | Social Democratic Party (Brazil, 1945–65) | | Popular Vote3: | 1,697,193 | | Percentage3: | 21.49% | | President | | Before Election: | Eurico Gaspar Dutra | | Before Party: | Social Democratic Party (Brazil, 1945–65) | | Posttitle: | President-elect | | After Election: | Getúlio Vargas | | After Party: | Brazilian Labour Party (historical) | | Module: | | Embed: | yes | | Election Name: | Vice president | | Type: | presidential | | Candidate1: | Café Filho | | Image1: | Café Filho (cropped).jpg | | Party1: | Social Progressive Party | | Popular Vote1: | 2,520,790 | | Percentage1: | 35.76% | | Candidate2: | Odilon Braga | | Party2: | National Democratic Union (Brazil) | | Popular Vote2: | 2,344,841 | | Percentage2: | 33.26% | | Candidate3: | Altino Marques | | Image3: | Suf46bus large (cropped).jpg | | Party3: | PR | | Popular Vote3: | 1,649,309 | | Percentage3: | 23.40% | | Vice President | | Before Election: | Nereu Ramos | | Before Party: | Social Democratic Party (Brazil, 1945–65) | | Posttitle: | President-elect | | After Election: | Café Filho | | After Party: | Social Progressive Party | | Module: | | Embed: | yes | | Previous Election: | 1947 | | Next Election: | 1954 | | Election Name: | Chamber of Deputies | | Seats For Election: | All 304 seats in the Chamber of Deputies | | Party1: | Social Democratic Party (Brazil, 1945–65) | | Leader1: | Nereu Ramos | | Percentage1: | 26.99 | | Seats1: | 112 | | Last Election1: | 151 | | Party2: | National Democratic Union (Brazil) | | Leader2: | Prado Kelly | | Percentage2: | 16.99 | | Seats2: | 81 | | Last Election2: | 81 | | Party3: | Brazilian Labour Party (historical) | | Leader3: | Getúlio Vargas | | Percentage3: | 16.47 | | Seats3: | 51 | | Last Election3: | 22 | | Party4: | Social Progressive Party | | Leader4: | Adhemar de Barros | | Percentage4: | 7.29 | | Seats4: | 24 | | Last Election4: | new | | Party5: | PR | | Leader5: | Artur Bernardes | | Percentage5: | 2.82 | | Seats5: | 11 | | Last Election5: | 9 | | Party6: | National Labour Party (Brazil, 1945–1965) | | Percentage6: | 2.75 | | Seats6: | 5 | | Last Election6: | new | | Party7: | PST | | Percentage7: | 2.13 | | Seats7: | 9 | | Last Election7: | new | | Percentage8: | 0.96 | | Seats8: | 1 | | Last Election8: | new | | Party9: | PRP | | Leader9: | Plínio Salgado | | Percentage9: | 0.94 | | Seats9: | 2 | | Last Election9: | 2 | | Party10: | PDC | | Percentage10: | 0.74 | | Seats10: | 2 | | Last Election10: | 2 | | Party11: | PL | | Percentage11: | 0.72 | | Seats11: | 5 | | Last Election11: | 1 | | Party12: | Brazilian Socialist Party | | Percentage12: | 0.48 | | Seats12: | 1 | | Last Election12: | new | | Module: | | Embed: | yes | | Previous Election: | 1947 | | Next Election: | 1954 | | Election Name: | Chamber of Deputies | | Seats For Election: | 22 seats in the Federal Senate | | Party1: | Social Democratic Party (Brazil, 1945–65) | | Leader1: | Nereu Ramos | | Percentage1: | 15.45 | | Seats1: | 6 | | Last Election1: | 25 | | Party14: | Brazilian Labour Party (historical) | | Leader14: | Otávio Mangabeira | | Percentage14: | 10.45 | | Seats14: | 5 | | Last Election14: | 3 | | Party15: | National Democratic Union (Brazil) | | Leader15: | Prado Kelly | | Percentage15: | 9.62 | | Seats15: | 4 | | Last Election15: | 12 | | Party16: | PR | | Leader16: | Artur Bernardes | | Percentage16: | 7.27 | | Seats16: | 2 | | Last Election16: | 0 | | Party17: | Social Progressive Party | | Leader17: | Adhemar de Barros | | Percentage17: | 6.72 | | Seats17: | 3 | | Last Election17: | 0 | | Party18: | PST | | Percentage18: | 1.62 | | Seats18: | 1 | | Last Election18: | new | | Party19: | Brazilian Socialist Party | | Percentage19: | 0.20 | | Seats19: | 1 | | Last Election19: | new |
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General elections were held in Brazil on 3 October 1950.[1] The presidential elections were won by Getúlio Vargas of the Brazilian Labour Party, whilst the Social Democratic Party remained the largest party in both the Chamber of Deputies and the Senate, although they lost their majority in the former. Voter turnout was 72.1% in the presidential election, 72.0% in the Chamber elections and 77.7% in the Senate elections.[2]
Background
After living in self-imposed exile in his Riograndense ranch between his overthrow in 1945 and 1950, former President Getúlio Vargas, who had already been elected a senator in 1945, decided to run for the presidency, as the candidate of the Brazilian Labor Party (PTB), one of the two he founded before he was deposed in October 1945, putting an end to his 15-year dictatorship. Vargas, although in exile, remained active on the sidelines of Brazilian politics during the presidency of his former War Minister, Eurico Gaspar Dutra. He notably criticized his successor's economic policies, taking a hard nationalist and populist tone which appealed to the base of the PTB, organized labour.
In April 1950, the Social Democratic Party, also pro-Vargas but based more around industrialists and state political machines, rejected the idea of forming a coalition with the PTB or the UDN and decided to run its own candidate. They nominated Cristiano Machado, a little-known congressman for Minas Gerais.
However, Vargas was able to forge an alliance with a number of PSD state leaders, notably in his own state of Rio Grande do Sul and in Rio de Janeiro. In Pernambuco, he even forged an alliance with his traditional rivals, the UDN. This phenomenon - to nominate a candidate and support another - became known as "Cristianization" in Brazil after it came at the expense of Cristiano Machado. In the state of São Paulo, he forged an alliance with Adhemar de Barros' Social Progressive Party (PSP), a populist electoral machine which dominated state politics. The PSP was the only other party to officially endorse him, and provided him with his running-mate (who was separately elected), João Café Filho. Vargas also assured himself of the support, or at least approval, of the military which had deposed him in 1945. He reconciled himself with the dominant figure of the military then, Góis Monteiro, who had played a role in his 1945 overthrow.[3]
The center-right National Democratic Union (UDN), noted for its radical anti-Vargas posture, once again nominated Eduardo Gomes as its candidate. The party proved woefully unable to expand its narrow electoral base, and not even the anti-Vargas rhetoric of 1945 could deliver more votes. The UDN and Gomes also proved their little comprehension of the evolving Brazilian political scene by supporting abolishing the minimum wage instituted in Vargas' past administration.[4]
During the Eurico Gaspar Dutra administration, the Brazilian Communist Party had its license revoked by the Superior Electoral Court in the context of the early Cold War. Communists oriented their followers not to vote, but a significant share of them voted on Vargas.
Presidential candidates
Results
President
Vargas won a convincing victory, with 48.7% of the vote and close to an absolute majority of votes cast. Despite the UDN's claim that he was not constitutionally elected (they claimed that a candidate needed an absolute majority of the votes), Vargas was inaugurated President on 31 January 1951.[5]
As of 2023, this remains the last time that the bellwether state of Minas Gerais did not vote for the winner of the election.
Senate
Notes and References
- [Dieter Nohlen]
- Nohlen, pp191-232
- Skidmore, TE: Politics in Brazil: 1930-1964, page 75. Oxford University Press, 2007.
- Skidmore, TE: Politics in Brazil: 1930-1964, page 77. Oxford University Press, 2007.
- Skidmore, TE: Politics in Brazil: 1930-1964, page 101. Oxford University Press, 2007.
