Workers' Party (Brazil)

Workers' Party
Partido dos Trabalhadores
AbbreviationPT
PresidentEdinho Silva
Vice PresidentWashington Quaquá
Honorary PresidentLuiz Inácio Lula da Silva
FoundedFebruary 10, 1980 (1980-02-10)
RegisteredFebruary 11, 1982 (1982-02-11)
Headquarters
NewspaperFocus Brasil
Think tankFundação Perseu Abramo
Student wingJuventude do PT
Membership (2024) 1,653,361
Ideology
Political position
National affiliationBrazil of Hope
Regional affiliationSão Paulo Forum
COPPPAL
International affiliationProgressive Alliance
Colors  Red   White
TSE Identification Number13
Governorships
4 / 27
Mayors
252 / 5,570
Federal Senate
9 / 81
Chamber of Deputies
67 / 513
Mercosur Parliament
7 / 38
State Assemblies
118 / 1,024
City Councillors
3,130 / 56,810
Party flag
Website
pt.org.br

^ A: A broad left-wing faction, it includes some far-left factions.

The Workers' Party (Portuguese: Partido dos Trabalhadores, PT) is a centre-left political party in Brazil that is currently the country's ruling party. Some scholars classify its ideology in the 21st century as social democracy, with the party shifting from a broadly socialist ideology in the 1990s, although the party retains a left-wing and marginal far-left faction to this day. Founded in 1980, PT governed at the federal level in a coalition government with several other parties from January 1, 2003, to August 31, 2016. After the 2002 parliamentary election, PT became the largest party in the Chamber of Deputies and the largest in the Federal Senate for the first time. With the highest approval rating in the history of the country at one time, President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva was PT's most prominent member. Dilma Rousseff, also a member of PT, was elected President twice (first on October 31, 2010, and then again on October 26, 2014) but did not finish her second term due to her impeachment in 2016. The party came back to power with Lula's victory in the 2022 presidential election.

The party has been involved in a number of corruption scandals since Lula first came to power and saw its popular support plummet between 2015 and 2020, with presidential approval ratings falling from over 80% to 9% and successive reductions in all elected offices since 2014. The 2022 general election marked a turning point in that trajectory.

The party symbols are a five-pointed red star inscribed with the initials "PT" in the center; a red flag with a white star also with the initials in the center; and the Workers Party's anthem. Its Superior Electoral Court (TSE) identification number is 13. Members and sympathisers of the party are known as "Petistas".