Brazil's Opposition: Aecio Neves
Opposition Leadership Profile: Aecio Neves
January 28, 2015
Primary Article Contributors
Matthew Wilson
Aecio Neves, born March 10, 1960, was born into a political family. His grandfather, Tancredo Neves was a key politician during Brazil’s transition from a military dictatorship to a democracy and was elected president. Although he passed away before being able to take office, his impact on Brazilian politics was undeniable. Aecio Neves is a member of the Brazilian Social Democracy Party (PSDB) and began as a member of the Lower House of the legislature from 1997 until 2002, while serving as the President of the House in his last term.
After serving in the Lower House, Neves became the Governor of his native state of Minas Gerais, the 2nd largest state and electoral constituency in Brazil. In 2013 Neves was elected leader of the Brazilian Social Democracy Party by a landslide, winning 521 of 535 votes, beating out Jose Serra who had lost in consecutive presidential electionsto Lula da Silva and Dilma Rousseff respectively. Serra had previously threatened to leave the PSDB, but following the election stated he would fully support Neves, helping to limit an internal party disagreement that had weakened the PSDB in previous years. In the 2014 election, Neves lost to Dilma Rousseff by 3.5m votes, the slimmest margin of victory in a Brazilian electoral history.
Leading up to the 2014 election when rioting broke out across Brazil, Rousseff’s popularity plunged from 63% to 42%, opening the door for Neves to rise in the polls. Unfortunately for Neves, riots were aimed against the political class in general, not just Rousseff and her Workers Party. This disdain for the political class hurt Neves as his family history and his extensive involvement in multiple levels of government framed him as a major name in the political class.
Neves’ greatest achievements come from his time as Governor of Minas Gerais. Faced with economic instability, Neves was able to stabilize the economy and improve education in the province. Due to his efforts, Minas Gerais now has some of the best schooling in Brazil. These achievements in education were key to Neves’ presedential campaign, as Neves has criticized Rousseff for her failures in regards to education. Neves’ campaign focused largely on promises to cut the number of ministries as well as simplifying the tax system in order to boost private investment in Brazil. However, Neves is still undermined by false statements made by the Worker’s Party, which claim he will remove Bolsa Familia, a highly successful social welfare plan championed by Rousseff. Neves has been unable to distance himself from these allegations, particularly because of his role in Brazil’s old political establishment, and this has hurt his election prospects.
