#  Brazil's 2026 Elections: Looking Ahead to October 

 



    ![Poster event](/sites/g/files/omnuum12451/files/styles/hwp_5_4__480x385/public/2026-03/April%2014%20BSP%20event.png?itok=G54ee5yB) 

 



 

####  calendar\_today Date and Time 

 **April 14, 2026** 

 04:30PM - 05:45PM EDT 

####  pin\_drop Location 

 **CGIS South, Room S216**  

No registration required to attend in person.

 

 

 



 

In October, 120 million Brazilians will choose a president, members of Congress, and state governors. What is at stake? Will Lula da Silva win a fourth term in the Planalto, or will voters hand power back to Jair Bolsonaro, whose son Flávio is running for president while his father is imprisoned for seeking to overthrow Brazil's democracy? How might congressional races reshape Brazil’s balance of power, including relations with the judiciary? And what roles will corruption scandals, the spread of AI, and the evolving direction of U.S. policy play in the campaign? Bringing together experts from political science and public opinion, this panel will consider the forces shaping Brazil’s 2026 elections and what the results could mean for the country's democracy.

*Special thanks to Aaron Watanabe, Ph.D. Student in Government, for his role in organizing this event.*



 

 ### Fernando Bizzarro

Panelist

Assistant Professor, Boston College



 

   ![Fernando Bizzarro,](/sites/g/files/omnuum12451/files/styles/hwp_16_9__480x270/public/2026-03/profileImage.img_.jpg?h=968f9bdf&itok=JZYJl7vl) 

 

 

 

 ### Lucas Gelape

Panelist

Assistant Professor, UFMG



 

   ![Lucas Gelape](/sites/g/files/omnuum12451/files/styles/hwp_16_9__480x270/public/2026-03/avatar_hu02aa61ae1d9de35cbe238d2676170cb9_90157_270x270_fill_q75_lanczos_center.jpg?h=40ab1358&itok=zA2UhE4S) 

 

 

 

 ### Graziele Silotto

Panelist

Senior Manager, Quaest



 

   ![Graziele Siloto](/sites/g/files/omnuum12451/files/styles/hwp_16_9__480x270/public/2026-03/Grazielle%20Silotto.jpg?h=50ca6c4e&itok=SxGA9ZnR) 

 

 

 

  

 

 

 

 ### Steven Levitsky

Moderator

Director, David Rockefeller Center for Latin American Studies; David Rockefeller Professor of Latin American Studies; Professor of Government, Harvard



 

   ![steve photo](/sites/g/files/omnuum12451/files/styles/hwp_16_9__480x270/public/2026-02/060417_Portraits_16-e1689548468915-300x300_1.jpg?itok=4Zi2d9nl) 

 

 

 

  

 

 

 

##  Bios 

 



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###    Fernando Bizzarro  expand\_more  

**Fernando Bizzarro** is an Assistant Professor of Political Science at Boston College. His research in comparative politics and political economy explores the nature, causes, and consequences of democracy and political parties, with a substantive focus on Latin America. He received his PhD from Harvard's Department of Government in 2023 and was a Postdoctoral Associate at Yale's Jackson School of International Affairs (2023-2024).

 

 



###    Lucas Gelape  expand\_more  

**Lucas Gelape** is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Political Science at the Federal University of Minas Gerais (UFMG), Brazil. He holds a PhD in Political Science from the University of São Paulo (USP) and was a visiting fellow at Harvard University during his doctoral studies.

 

 



###    Graziele Silotto  expand\_more  

**Graziele Silotto** is a Senior Insights Manager at Quaest Consultancy and Research, where she leads survey-based research on elections. She holds a PhD in Political Science from the University of São Paulo and was a visiting researcher at the University of Oxford.

 

 



###    Steven Levitsky  expand\_more  

**Steven Levitsky** is David Rockefeller Professor of Latin American Studies and Professor of Government and Director of the David Rockefeller Center for Latin American Studies at Harvard. He is Senior Fellow at the Kettering Foundation and a Senior Democracy Fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations. His research focuses on democratization and authoritarianism, political parties, and weak and informal institutions, with a focus on Latin America. He is co-author (with Daniel Ziblatt) of *How Democracies Die*, which was a *New York Times* Best-Seller and was published in 30 languages, and *Tyranny of the Minority: Why American Democracy Reached the Breaking Point*. He has written or edited 11 other books, including *Transforming Labor-Based Parties in Latin America: Argentine Peronism in Comparative Perspective* (Cambridge University Press 2003), *Competitive Authoritarianism: Hybrid Regimes after the Cold War* (with Lucan Way) (Cambridge University Press, 2010), and *Revolution and Dictatorship: The Violent Origins of Durable Authoritarianism* (with Lucan Way) (Princeton University Press, 2022). He and Lucan Way are currently working on a book on democratic resilience across the world.

Professor Levitsky has written for *New York Times*, *The Washington Post*, *The Atlantic*, *Foreign Affairs*, and *The New Republic*, and he has been a columnist for *La Republica* (Peru) and *Folha de São Paulo* (Brazil).

 

 



 

 

 

 

 

 



 

 See also:- [ Cambridge ](/locations/cambridge-office)
- [ Brazil Studies ](/programs-initiatives/brazil-studies)
 
 

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