Brazilian presidential line of succession

The presidential line of succession defines who may become or act as President of the Federative Republic of Brazil upon the death, resignation, incapacity or removal from office of the elected President, and also when the President is out of the country or is suspended due to impeachment proceedings.

The Brazilian Federal Constitution establishes that a Vice-President succeeds as President when the elected President dies, resigns or is removed from office. The other officers in the line of succession are the President of the Chamber of Deputies, the President of the Federal Senate, and the President of the Supreme Federal Court, in that order, but those other officers do not succeed to the presidency as a Vice-President would. Instead, they merely serve as Acting President.

The Vice-President and the other officers in the line of succession, in accordance with the constitutional order of preference, also serve as Acting President when the President is under incapacity, or is suspended due to impeachment proceedings, or when the President travels abroad.

In Brazil, when the Vice-President dies, resigns or is removed from office, or when a Vice-President succeeds to the Presidency, the Vice-Presidency remains vacant until the inauguration of the Vice-President chosen in the next election. That election is usually the presidential election held in the last year of the presidential term to choose the President and Vice-President that will serve in the next four-year presidential term. Only when both the Presidency and the Vice-Presidency become vacant at the same time are special elections summoned to elect a new President and Vice-President to complete the pending presidential term.

Should a President die, resign or be removed from office, a Vice-President succeeds as President.

The other officers in the line of succession do not become President in those cases. Instead, the next available person in line merely becomes Acting President, and the Constitution dictates that, whenever both the presidency and the vice-presidency become vacant, new elections are to be held. So in the case of an Acting President taking office due to a double vacancy in the presidency and vice-presidency, the Acting President serves only until the special election takes place and the newly elected President and Vice-President are sworn-in.

If the second vacancy triggering elections takes place in the last two years of the presidential term, the National Congress is empowered and required to elect the President (and his Vice-President). If the double vacancy of the presidency and vice-presidency takes place in the first half of the four-year presidential term, however, a presidential election by popular vote is held.

In any event, the President and Vice-President so elected merely finish what remains of the pending presidential term, and thereafter a new President and a new Vice-President, chosen in the regular general elections, take office for a normal four-year term.

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