Brazilian general election, 2010

The first round of the Brazilian general election of 2010 was held on Sunday, October 3, 2010. The Presidency of the Republic, all 513 Chamber of Deputies seats and 54 out of 81 Federal Senate seats were contested in this election, along with governorships and Legislative Assemblies of all 26 states and the Federal District. On October 31, a run-off was held for president and eight state governorships that did not reach 50% plus one of the valid votes cast in the first round.

On October 3, 2010, Brazilian citizens eligible to vote were required by law to choose a successor to President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, of the Workers' Party, as President Lula's second, four-year term in office was coming to an end and he was constitutionally prohibited from running for a third, consecutive term. 2010 marked the first time since the first election after the redemocratization in which he did not run for president.

As no candidate received absolute majority of the valid cast votes in the first round, a second round, run-off was required to be held on October 31, at which time Lula's designated successor, Workers' Party candidate Dilma Rousseff, defeated the candidate of the Brazilian Social Democracy Party, José Serra, 56% to 44%. Rousseff therefore became Brazil's first female president.

All 26 Brazilian states and the Federal District governors were up for election. If none of the candidates received a majority of valid votes in the first round, a run-off was held on October 31, 2010. According to the Constitution, governors are elected directly to a four-year term, with a limit of two terms. Aécio Neves (Minas Gerais), Alcides Rodrigues (Goiás), Blairo Maggi (Mato Grosso), Eduardo Braga (Amazonas), Ivo Cassol (Rondônia), Luiz Henrique da Silveira (Santa Catarina), Marcelo Miranda (), Paulo Hartung (Espírito Santo), Roberto Requião (Paraná), Waldez Góes (Amapá), Wilma de Faria (Rio Grande do Norte) and Wellington Dias (Piauí) were all elected in 2002 and re-elected in 2006 and thus were not allowed to run again. After his involvement in an ongoing corruption scandal in late 2009, Federal District Governor José Roberto Arruda left the Democrats party (and was later arrested), also becoming ineligible since it is required for citizens seeking to run for any public office in the country to be a registered party member for at least a year before the predicted election date.

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