Party organization and strategic changes of the Social Liberal Party (PSL) in the Brazilian 2018 presidential elections

Abstract

In 2018, the Social Liberal Party (PSL), of little relevance until then, secured Jair Bolsonaro’s election as President of Brazil and achieved success in state and national legislative elections. Building upon these results, the question arises: which party aspects contributed to success in the legislative contests? In this article, we analyze the party’s organizational factors and candidacies, pointing out that the Bolsonaro-led coordination conferred a centralizing profile to the party. Thus, despite having low institutionalization, the psl capitalized on the benefits of the Bolsonaro phenomenon for other contests beyond the presidential one.