Ciro Gomes

Born in São Paulo, raised in Ceará by a political family, Ciro Ferreira Gomes entered politics at 27 in 1984, became mayor of Fortaleza at 30, and won the governorship at 32 in 1990 - the country's most popular governor, whose Viva Criança program slashed infant mortality and drew international recognition. A brief 1994 stint as finance minister under Itamar Franco put him at the helm of the Real Plan, which ended hyperinflation. Presidential bids in 1998 and 2002 as a centre-left critic of both the establishment and Lula's PT left him outside the runoff; Lula then appointed him integration minister, overseeing the São Francisco River transfer, and he won a congressional seat in 2006. Sidelined when Lula tapped Dilma Rousseff for 2010, he coordinated her campaigns before retreating to boardrooms at a rail company and a steelworks. His 2018 return - a neo-Keynesian platform pitching debt relief, dividend taxes, and LGBTQ protections - landed third again, this time between Bolsonaro and Haddad, and he refused to endorse either or join Lula's ticket.