By ICL Notícias
More than 33 million Brazilians did not show up to vote in the first round of the 2026 election. Abstention reached 21.08% of the electorate, the highest rate recorded in a first round presidential vote since 1998, when 21.49% of voters stayed home.
That number poses a challenge ahead of the runoff, set for October 25, when Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva and Flávio Bolsonaro will face off again for the presidency. Abstention can stem from different causes, ranging from dissatisfaction with the candidates to transportation difficulties and accessibility problems.
Among the reasons cited by voters interviewed by online news portal G1 were disillusionment with politics, the bureaucratic hassle of transferring voter registration, travel, and obstacles getting to polling stations. The picture is also shaped by political polarization and the candidates’ high rejection rates, factors experts point to as possible drivers behind the rise in abstention.
Southeast Has the Highest Rate of Abstention
Data from the Superior Electoral Court show that the Southeast region recorded about 15 million abstentions, equivalent to 22.7% of voters there.
In the Center-West region, abstention reached 21.7%, with about 2.6 million people not voting. In the Northeast, about 8 million voters abstained, representing 18.4% of the region’s electorate.
Abstention first topped 20% in the 2018 presidential election and has kept climbing in the elections since.
Voters Who Abstained in the First Round Can Still Vote in the Runoff
Abstaining in the first round does not prevent someone from taking part in the runoff. According to Brazil’s electoral court system, each round is treated as a separate election.
In Brazil, voting is mandatory for literate citizens between ages 18 and 70. For 16 and 17 year olds, people over 70, and citizens who cannot read or write, voting is optional.
With most state level races already decided, the presidential election will be the only contest on the ballot in much of the country during the runoff. That could make it harder to mobilize voters, especially in states without a governor’s race to draw people to the polls.
Even so, higher turnout wouldn’t automatically benefit one candidate over the other. The electoral impact depends on the preferences of those who abstained in the first round.
This article first ran on the online news portal ICL Notícias, was translated, with express authorization from the editor, by Panamerican Dispatch, and can be read in its original Portuguese here.