Mário Covas

In this Portuguese name, "Júnior" is a generational suffix used for someone whose name is the same as their father, like "Jr." in English.

Mário Covas Almeida Júnior (Portuguese pronunciation: [ˈmaɾju ˈkɔvɐz ˈʒunjoʁ]; 21 April 1930 – 6 March 2001) was a Brazilian politician.

Mário Covas
Covas in 1997
Governor of São Paulo
In office 1 January 1995 – 6 March 2001 Leave: 22 January 2001 – 6 March 2001
Vice Governor	Geraldo Alckmin
Preceded by	Luiz Fleury Filho
Succeeded by	Geraldo Alckmin
Senator for São Paulo
In office 1 February 1987 – 1 January 1995
Preceded by	Amaral Furlan
Succeeded by	Romeu Tuma
Mayor of São Paulo
In office 11 May 1983 – 1 January 1986
Preceded by	Francisco Altino Lima (acting)
Succeeded by	Jânio Quadros
Member of the Chamber of Deputies
In office 1 February 1983 – 11 May 1983
Constituency	São Paulo
In office 1 February 1963 – 16 January 1969
Constituency	São Paulo
Personal details
Born	21 April 1930 Santos, São Paulo, Brazil
Died	6 March 2001(2001-03-06) (aged 70) São Paulo, Brazil
Cause of death	Bladder cancer
Buried	Paquetá Cemetery, Santos, São Paulo, Brazil
Political party	PST (1959–1965) MDB (1965–1980) PMDB (1980–1988) PSDB (1988–2001)
Spouse	Lila Almeida ​ (m. 1954)​
Children	Renata Covas (b. 1955) Sílvia Covas (1956–1976) Mário Covas Neto (b. 1959)
Relatives	Bruno Covas (grandson)
Alma mater	University of São Paulo (B.E.)
Profession	Civil engineer
Signature

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

External links

• Fundação Mario Covas biography