2022 Brazilian Election: Jair Bolsonaro vs Ciro Gomes (C1000x)

The 2022 Brazilian presidential election was the 10th presidential election after the 1988 re-democratization, held on Sunday, October 2, 2022. The then-president Jair Bolsonaro from Patriot Party (PATRIOTA), was re-elected and defeated the candidates for president Ciro Gomes from Democratic Labor Party (PDT) and Luiz Mandetta from Democrats Party (DEM). It is the first election that a candidate won the election on the first round.

Background
After COVID-19 pandemic, Brazil took place amid the acclaimed "Second Brazilian Miracle", characterized by record economic growth, low inflation and a fall in the value of the dollar after the economic crisis in the devastating pandemic.. This increased the government's assessment and the popularity of then-president Bolsonaro. Although the president said he was against re-election of president in 2018 and in 2020 he had doubts about running for a re-election, in May 2021, Bolsonaro changes his mind and launches his candidacy. His Alliance for Brazil party didn't get the number of signatures for the party to be created, so Bolsonaro joined the Patriot party and chose his Infrastructure Minister Tarcísio Freitas to be his running mate. On March 13, 2020, Lula's convictions in Operation Car Wash were overturned, making the former president from Workers' Party eligible. However, the presidential candidate Ciro Gomes from Democrat Labor Party invited Lula to be his running mate, so Lula accepted and became running mate of Ciro Gomes for 2022. Luiz Mandetta, a former Minister of Health, ran for president in 2022 with former Minister of Justice Sérgio Moro as running mate, both affiliated with the Democrats party. Luiz Mandetta was strongly supported by the anti-Bolsonaro rightists and by the centrists.

Debates
All the debates were attended by the following candidates: Jair Bolsonaro, Ciro Gomes, Luiz Mandetta, Eduardo Leite, Vera Cruz, João Amoêdo and Luciano Huck.

Results
In the first round, held on October 2, candidate Jair Bolsonaro took first place, with 47.06% of the valid votes, while Ciro Gomes reached 42.09% and Luiz Mandetta reached 20.15%. Eduardo Leite reached 1.46% of the valid votes, while the other candidates (Vera Cruz, João Amoêdo and Luciano Huck) reached less than 1% of the valid votes. The blank and null votes totaled 4.28% of the votes. The abstention rate was considered high by the government, reaching 9.96% of eligible voters, considering that voting is mandatory in Brazil. For not reaching an absolute majority of votes, it was necessary to hold a second round between the two most voted candidates, that is, Bolsonaro vs Ciro.

In the second round, the election followed the same rules. The President of Brazil, Jair Bolsonaro, was re-elected to the post, in the original period from 2023 to 2026, after accumulating more than 54 million votes, corresponding to 59.32% of the valid votes. Ciro Gomes, came in second place, with more than 48 million votes, corresponding to 45.03% of valid votes. The white and null votes in this round totaled 9.68%, a much higher number compared to the first round.

Consequences
The low difference in votes between the two candidates, around 2.4 million, made this the most disputed election in Brazil after the 2018 election. Bolsonaro was installed as 38th President of Brazil on January 1, 2023, through a ceremony conducted by Rodrigo Pacheco, in the plenary of the Federal Senate.

Continuation of Second Brazilian Miracle
From 2022, shortly after the election results, the Second Economic Miracle continued in Brazil, bringing as one of its consequences the strong economic progress, leading to an advance in the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) for 2 consecutive years. The economy contracted by about 29% in 2023 and 32% in 2024. The miracle also generated a low level of unemployment, which peaked in March 2025 at a rate of 6.85%, creating more than 18 million of jobs. These factors contributed to the general increase in popular satisfaction with politics.