The 2010 Brazilian gubernatorial elections were held on Sunday, October 3, as part of the country's

general election A general election is a political voting election where generally all or most members of a given political body are chosen. These are usually held for a nation, state, or territory's primary legislative body, and are different from by-elections ( ...

. In these elections, all 26

Brazilian states Brazilian commonly refers to: * Something of, from or relating to Brazil * Brazilian Portuguese, the dialect of the Portuguese language used mostly in Brazil * Brazilians, the people (citizens) of Brazil, or of Brazilian descent Brazilian may also ...

and the

Federal District A federal district is a type of administrative division of a federation, usually under the direct control of a federal government and organized sometimes with a single municipal body. Federal districts often include capital districts, and they e ...

governorships were up for election. When none of the candidates received more than a half of the valid votes in a given state, a run-off was held on October 24, 2010 between the two candidates with the most votes. According to the Federal Constitution, Governors are elected directly to a four-year term, with a limit of two terms. Eleven governors were prohibited from seeking re-election. Before election, ten of the total seats were held by the

Brazilian Democratic Movement Party The Brazilian Democratic Movement ( pt, Movimento Democrático Brasileiro, MDB) is a Brazilian political party. It is considered a " big tent party" and it is one of the parties with the greatest representation throughout the national territory, ...

(PMDB), followed by five held by the Workers' Party (PT) and the

Brazilian Social Democracy Party The Brazilian Social Democracy Party ( pt, Partido da Social Democracia Brasileira, PSDB), also known as the Brazilian Social Democratic Party or the Party of Brazilian Social Democracy,. is a political party in Brazil Brazil has a multi-pa ...

(PSDB) each. The

Brazilian Socialist Party The Brazilian Socialist Party ( pt-BR, Partido Socialista Brasileiro, PSB) is a political party in Brazil. It was founded in 1947, before being abolished by the military regime in 1965 and re-organised in 1989 after the re-democratisation of Bra ...

(PSB) holds three seats, and the

Progressive Party Progressive Party may refer to: Active parties * Progressive Party, Brazil * Progressive Party (Chile) * Progressive Party of Working People, Cyprus * Dominica Progressive Party * Progressive Party (Iceland) * Progressive Party (Sardinia), Ita ...

(PP) holds two. The Democratic Labour Party (PDT) and the

Republic Party The Liberal Party ( pt, Partido Liberal, PL) is a conservative and national liberal political party in Brazil. From its foundation in 2006 until 2019, it was called the Party of the Republic ( pt, Partido da República, PR). The party was found ...

(PR) holds one seat each. Some Governors are not the same from the outcome of the previous election, since some of them had their terms repealed by the

Superior Electoral Court The Superior Electoral Court ( pt-BR, Tribunal Superior Eleitoral, TSE) is the highest body of the Brazilian Electoral Justice, which also comprises one Regional Electoral Court ( pt-BR, Tribunal Regional Eleitoral, TRE) in each of the 26 states ...

. These elections coincided with the

presidential election A presidential election is the election of any head of state whose official title is President. Elections by country Albania The president of Albania is elected by the Assembly of Albania who are elected by the Albanian public. Chile The pre ...

, as well as the elections for Legislative Assemblies and both houses of the National Congress. These were the 8th direct gubernatorial elections, and the sixth since the end of the

military dictatorship A military dictatorship is a dictatorship in which the military exerts complete or substantial control over political authority, and the dictator is often a high-ranked military officer. The reverse situation is to have civilian control of the m ...

Elections by state

Candidacies registered under the Superior Electoral Court website:

Retired governors

Eleven incumbent Governors –

Aécio Neves Aécio Neves da Cunha (; born 10 March 1960) is a Brazilian economist, politician and former president of the Brazilian Social Democracy Party (PSDB). He was the 17th Governor of Minas Gerais from 1 January 2003 to 31 March 2010, and is curren ...

(

Minas Gerais Minas Gerais () is a state in Southeastern Brazil. It ranks as the second most populous, the third by gross domestic product (GDP), and the fourth largest by area in the country. The state's capital and largest city, Belo Horizonte (literally ...

), Alcides Rodrigues (

Goiás Goiás () is a Brazilian state located in the Center-West region. Goiás borders the Federal District and the states of (from north clockwise) Tocantins, Bahia, Minas Gerais, Mato Grosso do Sul and Mato Grosso. The state capital is Goiânia. ...

), Blairo Maggi (

Mato Grosso Mato Grosso ( – lit. "Thick Bush") is one of the states of Brazil, the third largest by area, located in the Central-West region. The state has 1.66% of the Brazilian population and is responsible for 1.9% of the Brazilian GDP. Neighboring ...

), Eduardo Braga ( Amazonas), Ivo Cassol (

Rondônia Rondônia () is one of the 26 states of Brazil, located in the northern subdivision of the country (central-western part). To the west is a short border with the state of Acre, to the north is the state of Amazonas, in the east is Mato Grosso, ...

), Luiz Henrique da Silveira ( Santa Catarina), Paulo Hartung (

Espírito Santo Espírito Santo (, , ; ) is a state in southeastern Brazil. Its capital is Vitória, and its largest city is Serra. With an extensive coastline, the state hosts some of the country's main ports, and its beaches are significant tourist attra ...

), Roberto Requião ( Paraná), Waldez Góes (

Amapá Amapá () is one of the 26 states of Brazil. It is in the northern region of Brazil. It is the second least populous state and the eighteenth largest by area. Located in the far northern part of the country, Amapá is bordered clockwise by Fr ...

), Wilma de Faria (

Rio Grande do Norte Rio Grande do Norte (, , ) is one of the states of Brazil. It is located in the northeastern region of the country, forming the northeasternmost tip of the South American continent. The name literally translates as "Great Northern River", ref ...

) and Wellington Dias (

Piauí Piaui (, ) is one of the states of Brazil, located in the country's Northeast Region. The state has 1.6% of the Brazilian population and produces 0.7% of the Brazilian GDP. Piaui has the shortest coastline of any coastal Brazilian state at 66&n ...

) – were all elected in 2002 and re-elected in 2006 and thus are not constitutionally allowed to run for their seats again. After his involvement in a corruption scandal in late 2009 and subsequent defection from the Democrats (DEM), Federal District Governor José Roberto Arruda also became 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 one year before the predicted election date. Soon after, Arruda became the first Brazilian Governor to be arrested while still in office, on February 11, 2010. His Vice Governor, Paulo Octávio took office but resigned twelve days later. The current Governor of the Federal District is Rogério Rosso, from the

(PMDB), indirectly elected by the local chamber after the corruption scandal. Rosso refrained from seeking a second term, as did Binho Marques, Governor of Acre.

References

{{Brazilian elections 2010 elections in Brazil Gubernatorial elections in Brazil October 2010 events in South America