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

general election A general election is an electoral process to choose most or all members of a governing body at the same time. They are distinct from By-election, by-elections, which fill individual seats that have become vacant between general elections. Gener ...

. In these elections, all 26

Brazilian states The federative units of Brazil () are subnational entities with a certain degree of autonomy (self-government, self-regulation, and self-collection) and endowed with their own government and constitution, which together form the Federative Repu ...

and the Distrito Federal (Brazil), Federal District 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 (PMDB), followed by five held by the Workers' Party (Brazil), Workers' Party (PT) and the Brazilian Social Democracy Party (PSDB) each. The Brazilian Socialist Party (PSB) holds three seats, and the Progressive Party (Brazil), Progressive Party (PP) holds two. The Democratic Labour Party (Brazil), Democratic Labour Party (PDT) and the Republic Party (PR) holds one seat each. Some Governors are not the same from the outcome of the 2006 Brazilian general election, previous election, since some of them had their terms repealed by the Superior Electoral Court. These elections coincided with the 2010 Brazilian presidential election, presidential election, as well as the elections for Legislative Assemblies and both houses of the National Congress of Brazil, National Congress. These were the 8th direct gubernatorial elections, and the sixth since the end of the Brazilian military government, military dictatorship.

Elections by state

Candidacies registered under the Superior Electoral Court website:

Retired governors

Eleven incumbent Governors – Aécio Neves (Minas Gerais), Alcides Rodrigues (Goiás), Blairo Maggi (Mato Grosso), Eduardo Braga (Amazonas (Brazilian state), Amazonas), Ivo Cassol (Rondônia), Luiz Henrique da Silveira (Santa Catarina (state), Santa Catarina), Paulo Hartung (Espírito Santo), Roberto Requião (Paraná (state), Paraná), Waldez Góes (Amapá), Wilma de Faria (Rio Grande do Norte) and Wellington Dias (Piauí) – were all 2002 Brazilian general election, elected in 2002 and 2006 Brazilian general election, 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 (Brazil), 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 Brazilian Democratic Movement Party (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 in South America