José Sarney

Sarney started his political career in the 1950s after becoming a replacement deputy and later as a federal deputy in 1955.[7][9] He was a member of the centre-right National Democratic Union (União Democrática Nacional—UDN), aligned with the progressive wing of the party.[9] He strongly supported so-called "Revolution of 1964", a military coup that overthrew leftist President João Goulart in 1964.[9][7] After the military coup, Sarney followed most of the UDN into the National Renewal Alliance (ARENA), the political party of the military government.[10] He was elected governor of the state of Maranhão in 1966, serving until 1971.[10] He was then elected to the Brazilian Senate and became ARENA's president.[10]

Despite his support for the government's heavy-handed measures against dissent, Sarney had never been quite accepted by the military establishment, which tried to block his career.[11] In 1979 ARENA reorganized as the Democratic Social Party (PDS), and Sarney remained the party's president.[12] In 1984, the junta was under pressure due to popular protests to reinstate direct elections for president (Diretas Já movement).[12] PDS was divided but launched Paulo Maluf as its candidate for the presidency in indirect elections.[13]

Sarney disagreed with this decision and left PDS to form the Liberal Front Party, which then allied with the PMDB.[14] As part of the deal, Sarney became Tancredo Neves' running mate on the opposition ticket.[1] Neves won the election of 15 January 1985, but became gravely ill the night before his inauguration.[1] Sarney assumed office as vice-president and acting president until Neves died on 21 April, and he formally became the first civilian president in 21 years.[1][15]

His succession raised some question because as Neves could not attend the inauguration ceremony on 15 March, several politicians contended at the time that Sarney should not have been inaugurated as vice-president and allowed to become acting president.[1] They believed that Sarney had been elected vice-president only by virtue of the election of his running mate as president.[1][16] Each member of the Electoral College cast one vote, for president, and the choice of president carried with it the automatic selection of the ticket's running mate as vice-president, Sarney could take office only as vice-president together with Neves.[1][16] Some critics argued that in the event of the head of the presidential ticket not being able to assume office, the presidential powers and duties should pass to the speaker of the Chamber of Deputies, Ulysses Guimarães.[9][16]

Sarney takes the oath of office as Vice President of Brazil on 15 March 1985, immediately becoming Acting President

President Sarney with U.S. President Ronald Reagan and Pelé during a state dinner at the White House, 1986

There was some partisanship in this line of thought since both Neves and Guimarães were members of the same party, and Sarney was not.[9] He had been a supporter of the military, and only recently had joined the coalition to defeat the military's candidate in the electoral college.[9] The challenge to Sarney's inauguration was short-lived, however, because in the early hours of inauguration day, Guimarães himself stated that he believed that Sarney had the right to be inaugurated even without Neves, as the role of the vice-president was precisely that of replacing the president when needed.[16]

Sarney and the president of Argentina, Raúl Alfonsín, started the process of creating a common market between the two nations in 1985.[17] As first steps, they agreed to subsidize regional trade with a special currency for the purpose (the Gaucho).[18] The agreement led to the formation of the Mercosur in 1991.[19] He also oversaw constitutional amendments that purged the remaining vestiges of authoritarianism from the 1967/1969 Constitution.[3]

Sarney faced many problems: enormous foreign debt, rampant inflation and corruption as well as the transition to democracy.[3][7] During his presidency, the country had a 934% inflation rate and was overshadowed with union strikes and corruption scandals.[7] Sarney launched an economic plan to stabilize the economy, called "Plano Cruzado", successful at first.[20] The inflation worsened however under Sarney's Plano Cruzado.[20] A new, fully democratic constitution was promulgated in 1988, and in the following year, the first direct elections since 1960 were held.[3][7] Sarney was barred from running for president in his own right in that election.[3]

Sarney in March 2020

Sarney supported Fernando Henrique Cardoso as presidential candidate in 1994 and 1998 and Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva in 2002.[21][22] He returned to the Senate after his presidency, this time representing Amapá, and served as President of the Senate from 1995 to 1997, 2003 to 2005, 2009 to 2011, and 2011 to 2013.[23] He retired in 2015 from politics and was the longest-serving member of the Brazilian Congress at the time of his retirement.[4] His retirement was noted by The New York Times as a "decline of a political dynasty" which would cause a political shift in the country.[4] All told, he spent all but two years out of office from 1955 to 2015.

Sarney is regarded as the foremost of Brazil's oligarchs.[4] Sarney owns the most important newspapers and television stations in Maranhão.[24] Sarney has also faced multiple allegations of nepotism and corruption in his career.[25] In 2009, the British weekly The Economist called his election as President of the Senate "a victory for semi-feudalism" and "a throwback to an era of semi-feudal politics that still prevails in corners of Brazil and holds the rest of it back."[26] Veja columnist Roberto Pompeu de Toledo deemed him "the perfect oligarch".[27]

Sérgio Machado, former president of Transpetro, said in his plea agreement within the Operation Car Wash that Sarney received R$18.5 million of the bribe money from a Petrobras subsidiary, in the PMDB account during the period in which he directed the company (2003–2015).[28]