The surge in Indigenous candidacies comes as the country heads toward a tightly contested presidential race between incumbent left‑wing President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva and opposition contender Flávio Bolsonaro, son of former President Jair Bolsonaro.
Among the newcomers is Tereza Arapium, a Rio de Janeiro state‑congressional hopeful who is distributing campaign leaflets made from actual leaves, underscoring her platform of defending Indigenous territories, “Mother Earth” and broader environmental safeguards.
Indigenous umbrella organization APIB, which compiled the candidate data, said the 191 candidates remain a tiny fraction of the roughly 21,000 individuals on the ballot, but the record reflects growing political mobilisation amid a conservative climate dominated by agribusiness interests.
APIB has publicly backed President Lula’s re‑election, praising his creation of a Ministry of Indigenous Affairs and the renewed pace of official land recognitions, while warning that the process is still too slow and that proposed oil drilling near the Amazon River’s mouth threatens Indigenous lands.
Lula has responded to criticism by asserting that any drilling would be carried out with the “safest possible” technology, a claim that Indigenous groups say does not address the fundamental risk to their territories.
The candidates’ focus on environmental issues signals an attempt to insert Indigenous perspectives into legislative debates on agribusiness, energy and infrastructure projects that have traditionally sidelined Indigenous rights.