| Country: | Brazil |
| Flag Year: | 1889 |
| Type: | presidential |
| Previous Election: | 1950 Brazilian presidential election |
| Previous Year: | 1950 |
| Next Election: | 1960 Brazilian presidential election |
| Next Year: | 1960 |
| Election Date: | 3 October 1955 |
| Image1: | Juscelino Kubitschek em 1934.jpg |
| Candidate1: | |
| Party1: | Social Democratic Party (Brazil, 1945–1965) |
| Running Mate1: | João Goulart |
| Popular Vote1: | 3,077,411 |
| Percentage1: | 35.68% |
| Candidate2: | Juarez Távora |
| Party2: | National Democratic Union (Brazil) |
| Running Mate2: | Milton Campos |
| Popular Vote2: | 2,610,462 |
| Percentage2: | 30.27% |
| Image4: | Ademar Pereira de Barros, Governador de São Paulo (cropped).tif |
| Candidate4: | Adhemar de Barros |
| Party4: | Social Progressive Party |
| Popular Vote4: | 2,222,725 |
| Percentage4: | 25.77% |
| Candidate5: | Plínio Salgado |
| Image5: | Plínio Salgado, 1959.tif |
| Party5: | Popular Representation Party |
| Popular Vote5: | 714,379 |
| Percentage5: | 8.28% |
| President | |
| Before Election: | Nereu Ramos |
| Before Party: | Social Democratic Party (Brazil, 1945–1965) |
| After Election: | Juscelino Kubitschek |
| After Party: | Social Democratic Party (Brazil, 1945–1965) |
Presidential elections were held in Brazil on 3 October 1955.[1] The result was a victory for Juscelino Kubitschek, who received 35.7% of the vote. Voter turnout was 59.7%.[2]
After the suicide of Getúlio Vargas, his Vice President João Café Filho took office. Prior to Vargas' death, Brazil was living a time of intense political division, with the right-wing opposition National Democratic Union (UDN), high-level military officers and the mass media openly trying to depose him following the attempted assassination of right-wing journalist Carlos Lacerda, allegedly ordered by Vargas.
Juscelino Kubitschek, then Governor of Minas Gerais and a member of the pro-Vargas Social Democratic Party (PSD) announced his candidacy and built an alliance with the popular left-wing populist João Goulart of Vargas' Brazilian Labour Party (PTB), who was Vargas' former Minister of Labour and personal friend and who became cherished by the workers after granting a 100% increase in the minimum wage. A PSD-PTB coalition was then formed, with Kubitschek as the presidential candidate and Goulart as his running mate.
The UDN, which wanted to do a more moderate and centrist image launched the candidacy of Juarez Távora, an old military officer. The party formed a multi-party coalition in order to defeat the PSD-PTB coalition, a coalition which included the Republican Party and the Christian Democratic Party.
The Social Progressive Party (PSP) candidate was its leader, the populist former São Paulo Governor Adhemar de Barros. The PSP had supported Vargas in 1950, helping him win, but Adhemar was known to have presidential ambitions of his own.
Also on the right, Plínio Salgado of the minor Popular Representation Party (PRP) ran for president. Salgado was known for being the leader of Brazilian Integralism in the late 1930s and early 1940s. Integralismo was a far right movement described as a Brazilian branch of fascism.
During the campaign, Luís Carlos Prestes, leader of then illegal Brazilian Communist Party (PCB) recommended the tactical vote for the Kubitschek-Goulart ticket, an incident which increased the communist denunciations of the UDN and the media against the PSD-PTB campaign.