Politics · Brazil · 2 hrs ago
Brazil’s 2026 first-round abstention was 32.9 million voters
In Brazil’s 2026 first-round election, 32.9 million registered voters did not vote, about one in five.
That total includes people who are not required to vote, such as voters aged 16 or 17, people who cannot read or write, and those aged 70 or older.
It also includes deceased people whose names remain on voter rolls because their deaths were not recorded.
Using 2022 data, the analysis estimates that 16.3% of voters required to vote stayed away, about one in six.
The overall rate was kept near its 2022 level partly because election officials cancelled about five million registrations in 2025 for repeated non-voting.
Absence among required voters was higher for people without a completed primary education than for university graduates, and was higher in municipalities with more Black and mixed-race residents.
The analysis calls for better death-record updates and separate reporting of absences among voters required and not required to vote.
Brazil recorded 32.9 million absences in the first round of the 2026 election, about one in five registered voters.
The total was at the same level as in 2022, but it includes people who were not required to vote and people who may have died.
UOL’s analysis says the 2022 abstention rate among voters required to vote was 16.3%.
The analysis says older voters and outdated voter-registration records contribute to the total.
It also found that abstention among required voters in 2022 was higher among people with less education and in municipalities with more Black and mixed-race residents.
- Who
- Brazil’s registered voters.
- What
- 32.9 million voters did not vote in the first round of the 2026 election.
- When
- The first round of the 2026 election.
- Where
- Brazil.
- Why
- The total includes voters who were not required to vote and people who may have died but remained on the register, as well as required voters who did not vote.
This story does not have two clearly opposing sides.
No direct quotes in the coverage so far.
Brazil recorded the same level of absences as in 2026, and abstention among voters required to vote was 16.3%.
The Electoral Justice cancelled about 5 million voter registrations for people who had missed three consecutive rounds.
The first-round election recorded 32.9 million absences.
- 2026 first-round absences
- 32.9 million
- Share of registered voters absent
- About one in five
- 2022 abstention among required voters
- 16.3%
- Voter registrations cancelled in 2025
- About 5 million
- Registered voters aged 100 or more in 2026
- 298,000
Sources
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