Brazilian general election, 1945

Last updated March 16, 2019

General elections were held in Brazil on 2 December 1945,^[1] the first since the establishment of Getúlio Vargas' Estado Novo. The presidential elections were won by Eurico Gaspar Dutra of the Social Democratic Party (PSD), whilst the PSD also won a majority of seats in both the Chamber of Deputies and the Senate. Voter turnout was 83.1% in the presidential election, 83.5% in the Chamber elections and 76.7% in the Senate elections.^[2]

Brazil, officially the Federative Republic of Brazil, is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At 8.5 million square kilometers and with over 208 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area and the fifth most populous. Its capital is Brasília, and its most populated city is São Paulo. The federation is composed of the union of the 26 states, the Federal District, and the 5,570 municipalities. It is the largest country to have Portuguese as an official language and the only one in the Americas; it is also one of the most multicultural and ethnically diverse nations, due to over a century of mass immigration from around the world.

Getúlio Dornelles Vargas was a Brazilian lawyer and politician, who served as President during two periods: the first was from 1930–1945, when he served as interim president from 1930–1934, constitutional president from 1934–1937, and dictator from 1937–1945. After being overthrown in a 1945 coup, Vargas returned to power as the democratically elected president in 1951, serving until his suicide in 1954. Vargas led Brazil for 18 years, the longest of any President, and second in Brazilian history only to Emperor Pedro II among heads of state. He favored nationalism, industrialization, centralization, social welfare and populism – for the latter, Vargas won the nickname "The Father of the Poor". Vargas is one of a number of populists who arose during the 1930s in Latin America, including Lazaro Cardenas and Juan Perón, who promoted nationalism and pursued social reform. He was a proponent of workers' rights as well as a staunch anti-communist.

Eurico Gaspar Dutra president of Brazil from 1946 to 1951

Eurico Gaspar Dutra was a Brazilian military leader and politician who served as 16th President of Brazil from 1946 to 1951. He was the first President of the Second Brazilian Republic which immediately followed the Vargas Regime.

Background

Following the end of World War II, Vargas was forced by the military to re-democratize the country. However, the military feared that Vargas would suspend the elections like he had suspended the scheduled 1938 elections in 1937 and staged a preventive coup which prematurely removed Vargas from power on October 29, 1945 and installed a caretaker government led by José Linhares to ensure the free and fair carry-out of the elections.

World War II, also known as the Second World War, was a global war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. The vast majority of the world's countries—including all the great powers—eventually formed two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis. A state of total war emerged, directly involving more than 100 million people from over 30 countries. The major participants threw their entire economic, industrial, and scientific capabilities behind the war effort, blurring the distinction between civilian and military resources. World War II was the deadliest conflict in human history, marked by 50 to 85 million fatalities, most of whom were civilians in the Soviet Union and China. It included massacres, the genocide of the Holocaust, strategic bombing, premeditated death from starvation and disease, and the only use of nuclear weapons in war.

José Linhares, was a Brazilian lawyer who briefly served as the 15th President of Brazil in the final days of the Vargas Regime. As President of the Supreme Federal Court, he was called upon by the Armed Forces to take over the Presidency following the resignation of Getúlio Vargas in 1945, to the inauguration of Eurico Gaspar Dutra, in 1946, which marked the beginning of what is known today as the Second Brazilian Republic.

During this era of liberalization, Vargas founded two parties: the Social Democratic Party (PSD), a centre-right party composed primarily of the national industrial bourgeoisie which had supported Vargas and Vargas' interventors in the states, and the Brazilian Labour Party (PTB) composed of the urban working class and trade union movement. The PSD would become the largest party of the two, although Vargas used the PTB as his personal machine. The PSD consistently had the largest number of deputies until the 1964 military coup. The Vargista coalition had nominated Vargas' War Minister Eurico Gaspar Dutra earlier in 1945, but the PTB and Vargas offered Dutra's fledgling candidacy only lukewarm support.

The Brazilian Labour Party was a centre-left populist political party in Brazil founded in 1945 by supporters of President Getúlio Vargas. It was dismantled by the military after 1964 coup d'état.

The 1964 Brazilian coup d'état was a series of events in Brazil from March 31 to April 1 that led to the overthrow of President João Goulart by members of the Brazilian Armed Forces, supported by the United States government. The following day, with the military already in control of the country, the Brazilian Congress came out in support of the coup and endorsed it by declaring vacant the office of the presidency. The coup put an end to the government of Goulart, also known as Jango, a member of the Brazilian Labour Party, who had been democratically elected Vice President in the same election in which conservative Jânio Quadros, from the National Labor Party and backed by the National Democratic Union, won the presidency.

Vargas' traditional opponents had founded the National Democratic Union (UDN) in April 1945. The UDN, a conservative party defending economic liberalism through public incentive to foreign capital, was mostly a party of intellectuals and the urban middle-class, as well as the remnants of the oligarchic interests of the República Velha . It nominated the former tenente and Air Force brigadier Eduardo Gomes, later known for participating in the 1964 coup, as its presidential candidate. Gomes notably advocated repealing a majority of the social legislation and labour reforms passed during the Vargas rule.

Economic liberalism is an economic system organized on individual lines, which means the greatest possible number of economic decisions are made by individuals or households rather than by collective institutions or organizations. It includes a spectrum of different economic policies, such as freedom of movement, but its basis is on strong support for a market economy and private property in the means of production. Although economic liberals can also be supportive of government regulation to a certain degree, they tend to oppose government intervention in the free market when it inhibits free trade and open competition.

The Brazilian Air Force is the air branch of the Brazilian Armed Forces and one of the three national uniformed services. The FAB was formed when the Army and Navy air branch were merged into a single military force initially called "National Air Forces" in 1941. Both air branches transferred their equipment, installations and personnel to the new force.

Air Marshal Eduardo Gomes was a Brazilian politician and military figure. He was born in Petrópolis, Rio de Janeiro State, Brazil.

The recently legalized Brazilian Communist Party elected 14 deputies, and the party's popular leader, Luís Carlos Prestes was elected to the Senate in Guanabara. Getúlio Vargas, nominated by the PSD and his Brazilian Labour Party (PTB) in various states including Rio Grande do Sul was elected to the Senate representing Rio Grande do Sul and São Paulo as well as elected to the Chamber in six states and Rio de Janeiro.^[3] He opted to accept the Senate seat he won for the PSD (although he supported the PTB) in Rio Grande do Sul. Former President Artur Bernardes standing for election to the Senate in Minas Gerais for the Republican Party was defeated, placing third with 21.4% of the vote.

The Brazilian Communist Party, originally Partido Comunista do Brasil until 1958, is, disputedly, the oldest political party still active in Brazil, founded in 1922. It played an important role in the country's 20th-century history. It was one of the biggest parties in the country, maintaining, with PCdoB, an unified resistance against the dictatorship, but with the fall of the Soviet Union and the collapse of communism, the party lost power, and an internal coup in 1992 divided the party and formed a new party, called Socialist People's Party, using the former identification number of the PCB, 23.

Luís Carlos Prestes was a lieutenant, later communist militant and Brazilian politician. He was one of the organizers of the 1920s tenente revolts and the communist opposition to the Vargas Era in Brazil. He was also the general-secretary of the Brazilian Communist Party.

The State of Guanabara was a State of Brazil from 1960 to 1975, which existed in the territory of the current municipality of Rio de Janeiro. In its area, was located the old Federal District.

Results

President

Candidate	Party	Votes	%
Eurico Gaspar Dutra	Social Democratic Party (Brazil)	3,251,507	55.4
Eduardo Gomes	National Democratic Union	2,039,341	34.7
Yedo Fiúza	Brazilian Communist Party	569,818	9.7
Rolim Teles	National Agrarian Party	10,001	0.2
Invalid/blank votes		330,138	–
Total		6,200,805	100
Registered voters/turnout		7,549,849	83.1
Source: Nohlen

Chamber of Deputies

Party	Votes	%	Seats
Social Democratic Party	2,531,944	42.7	151
National Democratic Union	1,575,375	26.6	81
Brazilian Labour Party	603,500	10.2	22
Brazilian Communist Party	511,302	8.6	14
Republican Party	219,562	3.7	9
Syndicalist Popular Party	107,321	1.8	4
Christian Democratic Party	101,636	1.7	2
Party of Popular Representation	94,447	1.6	2
Progressive Renewal Party	70,675	1.2	0
Liberator Party	57,341	1.0	1
Democratic Republican Party	33,647	0.6	0
Others	17,866	0.3	0
Invalid/blank votes	198,209	–	–
Total	6,192,158	100	286
Registered voters/turnout	7,418,930	83.5	–
Sourec: Nohlen

Senate

In the Senate elections each voter had two votes.^[4]

Party	Votes	%	Seats
Social Democratic Party	4,225,389	38.0	25
National Democratic Union	2,699,493	24.3	12
Brazilian Communist Party	1,095,834	9.9	1
Brazilian Labour Party	1,084,553	9.8	3
Republican Party	443,654	4.0	0
Syndicalist Popular Party	175,452	1.6	1
Progressive Renewal Party	60,820	0.5	0
Democratic Republican Party	11,125	0.1	0
Liberator Party	7,326	0.1	0
Social Progressive Party	3,584	0.0	0
National Agrarian Party	3,533	0.0	0
Others	597,441	5.4	0
Independents	716,715	6.5	0
Invalid/blank votes	293,097	–	–
Total	11,403,782	100	42
Registered voters/turnout	7,418,930	76.7	–
Source: Nohlen (votes)

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Events in the year 1945 in Brazil.

Events in the year 1947 in Brazil.

Events in the year 1950 in Brazil.

References

↑ Nohlen, D (2005) Elections in the Americas: A data handbook, Volume II, p173 ISBN 978-0-19-928358-3
↑ Nohlen, pp191-232
↑ Bourne, R: Getulio Vargas of Brazil, 1883-1954 Sphinx of the Pampas, page 135. C. Knight, 1974.
↑ Nohlen, p210

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[N1-1] Nohlen, D (2005) Elections in the Americas: A data handbook, Volume II, p173 ISBN 978-0-19-928358-3

[2] Nohlen, pp191-232

[3] Bourne, R: Getulio Vargas of Brazil, 1883-1954 Sphinx of the Pampas, page 135. C. Knight, 1974.

[4] Nohlen, p210

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