A study covering the period from October 2024 to the start of the campaign period in August 2026 found that 96.3% of the episodes targeted elected officials and that women, despite being underrepresented, accounted for nearly 50% of the victims. The pre-election period was the most violent in the historical series.

Political violence in Brazil remains at a steady pace, with attacks and threats occurring even during periods when no elections are being held. Between October 28, 2024 and August 15, 2026, Brazil recorded 354 episodes of political violence, an average of one occurrence every 44 hours.

The data is part of the preliminary version of the 4th edition of the study on Political and Electoral Violence in Brazil, produced by the human rights organizations Terra de Direitos e Justiça Global. Figures for the first round of the 2026 electoral campaign period, which runs from August 16th to October 4th, will be released next week.

The 354 cases of political violence represent an increase of 18.4% compared with the 299 cases registered during the pre-election period covered by the previous edition of the study, between November 1, 2022 and August 15, 2024. The survey shows that violence does not subside outside the electoral calendar and primarily targets the day-to-day exercise of public office, particularly at the municipal level. One example is 2025, a year without elections, but with 225 registered cases. Considering the 10 years covered by the study, this was the most violent pre-election period.

In 96.3% of cases, the victims were people who already held elected office or public positions. Furthermore, 63% of the cases were concentrated in municipal politics (councilors and mayors), confirming that councilors, throughout the historical series, have been more exposed to political violence. Lethality follows the same pattern: 24 of the 28 episodes with lethal intent (including 10 of the 11 murders and 14 of the 17 attacks recorded) targeted local political actors.

"Political violence is a permanent phenomenon, which is not restricted to electoral periods and is manifested mainly at the municipal level. This violence directly affects those who occupy decision-making spaces and exercise power over public contracts and resources. The study shows that criminal groups and even police officers are among those responsible for acts of violence. We are facing a scenario that threatens not only the lives of political representatives, but also the functioning of democratic institutions. The Brazilian State needs to develop and refine effective mechanisms for prevention, protection, investigation, and accountability to confront this violence in a sustained manner", highlights Glaucia Marinho, Executive Director of Justiça Global.

With data tracked since 2016, the Political and Electoral Violence in Brazil study has already mapped 1,937 episodes of violations against political actors and leaders, considering data released this Wednesday (30). To collect data, organizations carry out daily monitoring and fact-checking of national and regional news coverage, as well as cross-referencing the findings with official records and public reports.

Municipal level is the most concerning, and left-wing parties are the main targets
Municipal political agents were the primary victims of the political violence recorded during the period. Municipal councilors account for 49.6% of the victims, with 176 of the incidents identified involving them. Of the 11 killings recorded, ten involved municipal political actors as victims. The same was true for 14 of the 17 attacks and in 24 of the 28 episodes classified as having lethal intent. No murders were recorded among federal political actors. Taking the size of the party caucuses into account, an average of three incidents of violence were recorded for every 1,000 councilors elected in 2024.

Analysis by party shows that political actors from left-wing parties are among the main targets. When aggregating victims by party caucus, PT and PSOL city councilors were victims of 30.23% of the episodes. In the case of PSOL, 16 of the 80 councilors elected under the party’s banner suffered some form of political violence. Meanwhile, there were 26 incidents targeting PT caucuses in municipal councils. Next comes PP, with 17 cases; the PL, with 15 cases; and União Brasil, with 14.

Gender and race dimension: the recurrence of violence
Women were the victims in half (50.6%) of all episodes of political violence—comprising cases targeting cisgender women, transgender women, and travestis—despite holding only about 18% of the country's legislative seats (according to the TSE).

The period also saw 27 collective incidents of political violence; in seven of these, the victims were exclusively women, and in two instances, the violence targeted the entire female caucus.

The study also highlights the difference in the methods used in the attacks: While physical violence (assaults, attacks, and murders) targeted men in 77.2% of cases, symbolic violence (threats and verbal abuse) primarily affected women (58.3%). Threats of sexual violence (31 cases) and incidents involving sexual content or comments regarding body and appearance (67 cases) involved exclusively female victims.

Racial composition varies by gender: among women, one in three is Black (64 out of 179); among men, the ratio is one in nine. Women account for 64 of the 84 incidents targeting Black victims, and eleven of them are trans women or travestis. Four Indigenous women and one Asian woman were also victims.

Among the 32 people who suffered repeated attacks over the 22-month period, 23 were women. Black women (those who identify as Black or as pardas—mixed-race) constitute the most vulnerable group in the survey: They account for 22.8% of all victims but are the targets of more than half of all recorded incidents of repeated violence.

All four threats recorded during the period and signed by groups or profiles openly identifying as neo-Nazi or white supremacist targeted Black women, in four states across four different regions: Mayor Professora Nilda (RN) and Councilwomen Alice Carvalho (RS), Vivi Reis (PA), and Adriana Gerônimo (CE).

In one instance, resignation from office was made a condition for ending the attacks; the threat from Belém, signed by a group that calls itself the "New Aryan Order," combines threats of rape and death with references to a massacre; the one from Fortaleza describes the weapons and execution method for a double murder right at the victim's doorstep, extending the threat to the parliamentarian's wife. This represents the closest thing to organized racial violence found in the dataset—a phenomenon with no equivalent directed at victims of other profiles.

In June 2025, all female State representatives of the Legislative Assembly of São Paulo (Alesp) were targeted by a mass email containing death and rape threats, as well as misogynistic, racist, and ableist attacks. The case highlights an attempt to target a collective group.

"Data from the 4th edition confirm that political violence against women is systemic and highlight the extent to which our democratic system hinders women's access to spaces of power and decision-making," notes Gisele Barbieri, Advocacy Coordinator at Terra de Direitos. She observes that the data reveal violence that has intensified over the years and largely goes unpunished, having escalated to a level that exposes and endangers not only lawmakers and candidates but also their family members.

"We need urgent responses to these crimes, demanding that the State enforce the sanctions set forth in Law 14.192—passed in 2021 to prevent, repress, and combat political violence against women. We also need to expand the scope of legislation to provide for penalties addressing the specific nature of violence against trans women, travestis, and Black women—which reaches extremely high levels of brutality and, in this edition, were even the only victims of threats by groups or profiles openly identifying as neo-Nazi," she adds.

Aggression in parliament online
Another finding of the study indicates that in 64 episodes (18.1% of the total), the perpetrator also holds elected office or a public position. When combined with police officers and other State agents, attacks committed by representatives of the State itself account for nearly one-third of the cases (29.9%). In 52 of these incidents, the aggression took place within the parliamentary workplace itself, such as in plenary chambers and committee meetings.

An emblematic case involves Minister of the Environment Marina Silva. In less than four months, the minister was subjected to three instances of verbal attacks by members of Congress. One senator stated at a public event that it was difficult to "put up with Marina for six hours and ten minutes without strangling her"; another senator cut off her microphone and told her to "know her place"; and a federal deputy called her "domesticated" during a hearing in the Chamber of Deputies.

In the online sphere—which accounts for 42.8% of all episodes (152 cases)—anonymity prevails: In 48% of these incidents, the perpetrators could not be identified.

Pattern of violence with indications of organized crime involvement
The research reveals another concerning figure. Of the total, 26 episodes (7.3%) showed indications of the involvement of criminal factions or organized crime—particularly in the states of Ceará (12), Rio de Janeiro (4), and São Paulo (3). In these cases, the main targets were municipal governments and related government bodies, such as municipal departments.

In one instance in Cariré (Ceará), the mayor, deputy mayor, and a city councilwoman were threatened simultaneously; in Meruoca, two officials from the same administration were threatened on the same day; in Jaguaribara, the mayor and deputy mayor were threatened during the same week; and in Mossoró (Rio Grande do Norte), a staff member was murdered and a city councilman was attacked at the same time and location. The data point to a pattern of territorial control, rather than personal retaliation.

Structural impunity
Although 84.5% of the cases of political violence (300 episodes) were formally reported or made public, the rate of accountability remains negligible. Only 46 cases (13%) are currently under judicial or police investigation, and merely 9 episodes (2.5% of the total) resulted in actual punishment for the perpetrators.

For the organizations Terra de Direitos and Justiça Global, current institutional protection mechanisms are flawed because they focus exclusively on the election campaign period and on individual candidates. The data demonstrate the urgent need for continuous public policies to protect the exercise of parliamentary mandates throughout the year, with special attention to female city councilors and local leaders.

Research highlights

●          354 episodes of political violence over 22 months (Oct 2024 to Aug 2026), representing approximately one recorded case every 44 hours in Brazil.

●          The most frequent type of violence is threats (193 cases), followed by verbal abuse (71), physical assault (51), attacks/assassination attempts (17), murder (11), criminalization (6), and break-ins (5).

●          The states with the highest number of recorded cases are São Paulo (67), Paraná (31), and Ceará (29).

●          96.3% of the victims were serving in elected office or holding a public position.

●          63% of assaults and 85.7% of acts with lethal intent occurred at the municipal level.

●          50.6% of the victims are cisgender women, transgender women, and travesties—victims in 176 cases.

●          1 in 5 PSOL city councilors elected in 2024 was a victim of political violence during this period (a rate of 287.5 per 1,000).

●          2.5% of the episodes (only 9 cases) resulted in the perpetrator being punished.

●          The victims from the period break down as follows: 183 white, 84 Black, and 70 mixed-race (pardos), plus four Indigenous, one Asian, and twelve unidentified individuals.