Rio de Janeiro | Sept. 23, 2026, 1:17 p.m. ET | 4 min read
Regina Viana has voted throughout most of her adult life. Now, she is considering skipping Brazil’s presidential election on Oct. 4.
“Since I’m not required to vote, and I don’t really have any candidates I like, I’d rather not,” she says, seated on a park bench outside Rio de Janeiro’s neoclassical Museum of the Republic after her daily walk.
Four years ago, get-out-the-vote campaigns concentrated on mobilizing Brazil’s youth, particularly 16- and 17-year-olds for whom voting is not compulsory. In 2026, the focus has shifted to older voters such as Viana, who are exempt from compulsory voting after turning 70. Their share of the electorate is growing as Brazil ages rapidly.
“People aged 60 and over are already almost double the number of young people aged 16 to 24,” says José Eustáquio Diniz Alves, a demographer who previously worked at the national statistics institute. “There are 16 million people over 70, representing around 10% of the electorate.”
Dr. Alves has written about this demographic shift for two decades. As Brazil prepares for a closely contested presidential election in which older voters could prove decisive, the issue is attracting wider attention.
Constance Malleret
Regina Viana is no longer legally required to vote after turning 70. Disenchanted with politics, she is considering staying home on Election Day.
President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, 80, is seeking a fourth nonconsecutive term. His principal rival is Sen. Flávio Bolsonaro, the eldest son of former President Jair Bolsonaro, whom Lula narrowly defeated in 2022. The elder Bolsonaro is serving a 27-year sentence under house arrest after being convicted last year for attempting to cling to power following that defeat.
Lula’s narrowing lead this fall makes a first-round victory unlikely, and a possible late-October runoff appears too close to call.
“The previous presidential election was decided by 2 million votes, so in a very close race, this population of 70 and over could have the power to decide the result,” Dr. Alves says. About 8 million Brazilians over 70 abstained in 2022.
The “silver generation”
Older populations are often associated with conservative views and high voter turnout. In the United States, baby boomers have been a reliable voting cohort, fueling generational resentment because some politicians are perceived to prioritize senior citizens’ interests at the expense of younger generations.
Brazil presents a different picture. Older citizens have historically voted at lower rates, yet their stated preferences lean left this year. In an early September poll from Datafolha, 46% of people over 70 said they intended to support Lula, a social democrat, compared with 35% for Sen. Bolsonaro, who is expected to advance his father’s hard-right agenda. Among the entire electorate, Lula’s lead shrinks to just five points.
The same poll found that over-70s reported the strongest interest in politics of any age group despite their traditionally high abstention rates. Turnout fell to 58.9% among Brazilians over 70 in the first round of the 2022 election, compared with 20.9% overall.
Experts point to mobility barriers and a sense of political disengagement that can intensify with age. People may tell themselves, “I no longer have a reason to vote because I’m old now and nobody cares to hear my opinion,” says Cléa Klouri, founder of Brazilian research firm Data8, which focuses on the “silver generation.”
Constance Malleret
Paulo Herkenhoff, an art curator in his 70s, says, “I always vote. I’m a citizen.” He attended a rally supporting President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva on Copacabana Beach in Rio de Janeiro on Sept. 13, 2026.
Herkenhoff rejects that mindset. Wearing pro-Lula apparel and distributing campaign stickers at a recent rally on Rio’s Copacabana Beach, he says, “I always vote. I’m a citizen. We need to understand that if Brazilians over 70 get out on the streets and vote, we can make a difference.”
Campaigns such as Voto70+, a nonpartisan initiative launched this year by Klouri’s company, are encouraging older citizens to participate.
“Brazil still sees itself as a country of young people,” Klouri says, pointing out that older age groups now make up an unusually large share of the population compared with younger generations.
Support for democracy
Although the leading candidates’ platforms address older workers and digital inclusion—issues that matter alongside pensions and health care to increasingly active retirees—experts say detailed discussions about an aging society remain limited.
Dr. Alves speculates that the age gap between the candidates—Sen. Bolsonaro is in his 40s—may partly explain older voters’ preference for Lula. Support for democracy may also be influencing their choices, given former President Bolsonaro’s role in an attempted coup three years ago.
That helps explain why Viana, who is still deciding whether to abstain, says she would not vote for Sen. Bolsonaro. Though disappointed with Lula’s performance, she fears another assault on democracy even more.