Candidate registration

To participate in the elections, political parties must have their by-laws registered with the Superior Electoral Court (TSE) up to one year before the election and, until the date of the party conventions, have a governing body constituted in the district where the election will take place.

Each party or coalition may request registration of:

• a candidate for president of the Republic and the respective vice president;

• one candidate for governor in each state and the Federal District, with their respective vice candidate;

• a candidate for mayor in each municipality and the respective deputy candidate;

• one or two candidates for senator in each unit of the Federation, every four years, alternately, and of their respective alternates;

• candidates for federal deputy, district deputy, state deputy and councilor, in accordance with the criteria of proportionality established in FC/1988, in the Electoral Code and in Law No. 9,504/1997.

For more information, access annotated Electoral Code and complementary legislation 

Candidate registration applications must be submitted by 7:00 pm on August 15 of the election year. For candidates for president and vice president of the Republic, requests will be made at the TSE; for senator, federal deputy, governor and vice-governor, district deputy and state deputy, in the TREs; and, for councilor, mayor and deputy mayor, in electoral courts. Registration of the same candidate for more than one elective position will not be admitted.

The application for registration must be presented through magnetic means generated by the Candidacy System - External Module (CANDex), developed by the Superior Electoral Court, accompanied by the printed copies of the Demonstration of Regularity of Party Acts (Drap) and Application for Registration of Candidacy (RRC) forms, issued by the system and signed by the applicants.

The Drap must be delivered with a copy of the minutes of the party convention typed, signed, and accompanied by the list of participants with their respective signatures.

The registration request must be signed:

• by the president of the national, regional, or municipal directory, or

• by the chairman of the respective provisional steering committee or

• by the registered municipal delegate.

In the case of a coalition, the request must be signed:

• by the presidents of related political parties, or

• by its delegates, or

• by the majority of members of the respective executive management bodies or

• by the representative of the coalition or delegates designated by the participating parties

If the political party or coalition does not request the registration of the candidates chosen during the convention, they may do so within a maximum period of 48 hours following the publication of the list of candidates by the competent electoral court, presenting the Application for Registration of Individual Candidacy (RRCI, the acronym in Portuguese) together with the required documents.