Mário Covas

Mário Covas Almeida Júnior (; 21 April 1930 – 6 March 2001) was a Brazilian politician.

Biography Covas studied engineering at the Polytechnic School of the University of São Paulo. He entered politics in his native city of Santos, in the state of São Paulo.

He was elected federal representative, mayor of São Paulo City (1983–1985), senator and twice Governor of the state of São Paulo. He was governor from 1994 to 1998, defeating Francisco Rossi in the run-off, and from 1998, defeating Paulo Maluf in the run-off, to his death in 2001. He was a founder and member of PMDB (Party of the Brazilian Democratic Movement) and later PSDB (Brazilian Social Democracy Party). In 1989, he was the PSDB presidential candidate, receiving 11% of the votes. In the run-off of that election, he supported, like his party, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva.

He took a medical leave of absence on 22 January 2001, due to bladder cancer found during an operation to remove a prostate tumor. He died later the same year. His successor was his deputy, Geraldo Alckmin.

Electoral history 1994 São Paulo gubernatorial election Party Candidate Round 1 Round 2 Votes % Votes % PSDB Mário Covas 6,574,517 46.84 8,661,960 56.12 PDT Francisco Rossi 3,119,592 22.23 6,771,454 43.88 PT José Dirceu 2,085,193 14.86 Eliminated PMDB Barros Munhoz 1,584,397 11.29 Eliminated PP Luiz Antônio Medeiros 317,593 2.26 Eliminated PRONA Álvaro Soares Dutra 144,196 1.03 Eliminated PSC Eduardo Resstom 134,064 0.95 Eliminated PRN Ciro Moura 75,727 0.54 Eliminated Total votes 14,035,279 100.00% 15,433,414 100.00% Invalid and blank votes 4,377,969 23.78% 2,315,122 13.04% PSDB gain from PMDB

1998 São Paulo gubernatorial election Party Candidate Round 1 Round 2 Votes % Votes % PSDB Mário Covas 3,813,186 22.95 9,800,253 55.37 PPB Paulo Maluf 5,351,026 32.21 7,900,598 44.63 PT Marta Suplicy 3,738,750 22.51 Eliminated PDT Francisco Rossi 2,843,515 17.18 Eliminated PMDB Orestes Quércia 714,097 4.30 Eliminated PRONA Constantino Cury 68,906 0.41 Eliminated PSTU Antônio Donizete 29,033 0.18 Eliminated PSDC João Manuel Batista 24,229 0.15 Eliminated PSC Edson Falanga 14,853 0.09 Eliminated PRTB Levy Fidelix 14,406 0.08 Eliminated Total votes 16,612,001 100.00% 17,700,851 100.00% Invalid and blank votes 2,858,536 14.68% 1,473,216 7.68% PSDB hold