Direct Elections Now!

In the first half of the 1980s, Brazil was living through the final years of a military regime that had been in power since April 1, 1964, when Brazil's elite and major newspapers joined forces to support a coup d'état to overthrow President João Goulart.

On December 13, 1968, Brazil entered one of the darkest periods in its history, with the infamous AI-5 authorizing censorship of the arts and the press, the withdrawal of political rights, and the imprisonment, torture, and even killing of opponents.

On March 2, 1983, Dante de Oliveira—a first-term federal Member of Congress from Mato Grosso and a member of the opposition (the Brazilian Democratic Movement Party or PMDB)—tabled a constitutional amendment bill in his name, seeking to restore direct presidential elections.

On March 29, the newspaper Folha de São Paulo offered its support in an editorial entitled “For Direct Elections." It would not take the lead in the movement until November, when the first rally in support of direct elections was held in São Paulo.

Further protests across Brazil would follow, but having the Folha spearhead the campaign was a decisive turning point for the movement, enabling it to reach the newspaper's readership at a crucial moment in the country's history. It also helped drive forward an ambitious project to reform the newspaper.

In the days leading up to the São Paulo rally, the Folha increased its coverage of the movement, publishing three further editorials calling for change, and giving prime space to politicians and intellectuals who were at the forefront of the campaign.

On Sunday November 27, 1983, around 15,000 people gathered in Charles Miller Square, in front of São Paulo's Pacaembu Stadium, for the first big rally of the Direct Elections Now (Diretas Já) campaign. The event was organized by political leaders and representatives from civil organizations.

The then national leader of the Workers' Party (Partido dos Trabalhadores or PT), Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, and Brazilian Democratic Movement Party (PMDB) senator, Fernando Henrique Cardoso, both spoke at the rally.

On January 26, 1984, the newspaper Folha de São Paulo ran the headline “300,000 in the Streets for Direct Elections,” as it reported the success of yet another demonstration on its front page—this time in Cathedral Square (Praça da Sé) in downtown São Paulo, on the public holiday to celebrate the city's founding.

To shouts of “One, two, three, four, five thousand, we want to elect the president of Brazil,” more than one million people packed into a half-mile stretch of Presidente Vargas Avenue in Rio de Janeiro for the Direct Elections Now (Diretas Já) campaign rally, according to reports in the Folha de São Paulo.

Days after the Rio rally, a very large crowd poured into downtown São Paulo. The Military Police suggested that there were more than 1.7 million people in attendance. São Paulo's governor, André Franco Montoro, spoke of almost two million protesters.

In the front row (from left to right): senator Fernando Henrique Cardoso, Minas Gerais governor Tancredo Neves, federal Member of Congress Ulysses Guimarães, and São Paulo governor Franco Montoro arrive at Brazil's National Congress on the day of the amendment vote.

In the 1985 presidential elections, which were held via an electoral college, Tancredo Neves became the first civilian president in 20 years and his victory helped increase numbers in Congress. However, Tancredo died on April 21 that same year, before taking office, and was replaced by his vice president, José Sarney.

The singer Fafá de Belém on stage holding a peace dove after performing the song Menestrel das Alagoas (Minstrel of Alagoas), written by Milton Nascimento and Fernando Brant in tribute to senator Teotônio Vilela—a leading figure the fight to return the country to democracy.