Brazil will hold the first round of its 2026 general election on October 4. Voters will choose a president and vice president, governors, senators, federal deputies and state or district deputies. If no presidential candidate wins an absolute majority of valid votes in the first round, the two leading candidates advance to a second round on October 25.
What is being elected?
The 2026 ballot covers several levels of government at once. The presidency and state governorships are majoritarian contests. Brazil will also renew 54 of the Federal Senate’s 81 seats – two senators from each state and the Federal District – while all 513 seats in the Chamber of Deputies are contested. State and district legislative seats are elected at the same time.
For president and governor, a first-round victory requires more than half of the valid votes. Blank and null ballots are not included in that calculation. If nobody reaches the threshold, the top two candidates meet again in the second round. Senate races work differently: in 2026, the two highest-polling Senate candidates in each state and the Federal District are elected.
Why congressional results matter
The presidential result is only one part of the election. Brazil’s Congress has two chambers with different electoral rules and political roles. The Chamber of Deputies is elected through a proportional system, while Senate seats are filled through majoritarian voting. That means a presidential result can be read separately from the composition of Congress that the next administration will have to work with.
Key dates
- October 4, 2026 – first round of the general election.
- October 25, 2026 – second round for president and governors where required.
- Voting is scheduled from 8:00 to 17:00 Brasília time nationwide.
How to follow Brazil on Votendi
Votendi separates individual polls from the polling average so readers can see both the latest survey and the broader trend. Close to election day, pay particular attention to the population surveyed, fieldwork dates, sample size and whether a poll measures all voters, registered voters or another defined electorate. A single poll can move sharply because of sampling variation; the trend across several surveys is usually more informative than one result on its own.
On election night, polling averages stop being the main story. The focus shifts to official vote counting and the geographic distribution of support. Votendi will treat official election results separately from pre-election polling so that forecasts, surveys and counted votes are not mixed together.
Sources
- Tribunal Superior Eleitoral – 2026 election calendar: https://www.tse.jus.br/eleicoes/cde-2026
- TSE – offices and seats contested in 2026: https://www.tse.jus.br/comunicacao/noticias/2026/Setembro/faltam-21-dias-conheca-os-cargos-em-disputa-nas-eleicoes-2026
- TSE – majoritarian and proportional systems: https://www.tse.jus.br/comunicacao/noticias/2026/Setembro/faltam-22-dias-sistemas-majoritario-e-proporcional-definem-a-eleicao
