Mario Moreira is reelected president of Fiocruz

President Mario Moreira has been reelected by the public servants of Fiocruz to serve a term from 2025 to 2028 at the head of the institution. The result of the 2024 Fiocruz Election for the Presidency was announced this Thursday (October 24), following the completion of the vote counting, which ended at 5 PM (Brasilia time). The candidate received 2,901 votes, which corresponds to 81.8% of the valid votes. A total of 3,546 votes were cast.

"We have a significant responsibility ahead. We have a legacy in our hands, a heritage that we cannot neglect," stated Mario Moreira (photo: Peter Ilicciev)

The Electoral Regulation stipulates that if there is only one candidate for the presidency of Fiocruz, the candidate must obtain 30% or more of the valid votes. The result of the internal election will be submitted for ratification by the Deliberative Council on October 29, and will then be forwarded to the minister of Health and the president of the Republic, who will decide on the appointment.

After the announcement of the results, Mario delivered a speech highlighting his commitment to building the future of Fiocruz. "My effort will be focused on maintaining the importance of Fiocruz. Our institution is at a moment of institutional inflection, and we need to come together and discuss so that we can agree on the project for the future of Fiocruz. We have a significant responsibility ahead. We have a legacy in our hands, a heritage we cannot neglect," he stated.

Mario thanked the Fiocruz community for its participation in the electoral process, emphasizing the voter turnout rate of 79.8%. "Our voting is not mandatory, and the turnout we achieved is remarkable. We have done many beautiful things collectively. In this campaign process, I participated in over 30 debates and discussions with everyone I had the opportunity to, in an environment of great honesty and listening to understand what Fiocruz thinks," he emphasized. The elected president also thanked the teams from the Electoral Commission, auditing, IT, and campaign coordination, and celebrated the support received from both inside and outside the institution.

The chairperson of the Electoral Commission, Maria do Carmo Leal, opened the counting ceremony, highlighting the importance of the democratic process for Fiocruz. "With this election, we complete 35 years of elections for the presidency of Fiocruz. The act of voting for president affirms the importance of building our future, our responsibility to Fiocruz and to the Brazilian society we serve, always in defense of the SUS, science and technology, innovation, production, knowledge, communication, and information, which are our greatest commitments," she stated.

The candidate

At Fiocruz since 1994, Mario Moreira holds a doctorate in Public Policies from the Federal University of Paraná, with a doctoral internship at the University of Coimbra in Portugal; and a master’s degree in Public Health from the National School of Public Health Sergio Arouca (ENSP/Fiocruz) and in Technology and Innovation Management from the University of Sussex in the UK.

The elected candidate is a specialist in Public Management from the Getúlio Vargas Foundation and, in 2017, became the vice president of Management and Institutional Development at Fiocruz, a position renamed as executive director in 2022. Mario Moreira was elected in March 2023, in an open electoral process to complete the term of Nísia Trindade Lima, who was invited to serve as minister of Health. At that time, he received 3,405 votes—91.68% of the total of 3,714 valid votes.

Electoral process

The 2024 Fiocruz Election for the Presidency, for the term 2025-2028, began on July 25, when the Deliberative Council approved the calendar and the formation of the Electoral Commission (CD). The Electoral Regulation was approved in a new meeting of the CD held on August 7. Candidate registration, which could include individuals affiliated with Fiocruz or not, was open from August 19 to 23. President Mario Moreira was the only one to present his candidacy, which was ratified by the Deliberative Council on August 30.

The electoral campaign mobilized workers in meetings with the candidate across various units and sectors of Fiocruz. On the eve of the voting (October 21), the Electoral Commission held a debate for the candidate to discuss current topics brought by external guests. Participants included the Executive Secretary of the Council for Sustainable Economic and Social Development (CDESS/SRI/PR), Raimunda Monteiro; journalist and leader of the Maré Mobilization Front, Gizele Martins; and the president of Faperj, Jerson Lima Silva.

Online voting

Vote counting began immediately after the electronic polls closed at 5:01 PM (Brasilia time) on October 24, in the auditorium of the Museum of Life, on the Manguinhos Campus in Rio de Janeiro. Since 2020, the election for the presidency of the Foundation has been conducted online, using an electronic system widely used by other institutions and by Fiocruz itself.

The Electoral Regulation establishes the formation of a Technical Group for Information Technology Advisory (GTATI), which aims to support the electoral process in terms of information security and data network infrastructure. At the zero hour, when the polls are opened, and at the beginning of the counting, external auditors verify the integrity of the polls. For the second time, professionals from the Information Technology Superintendency of the Federal Fluminense University (UFF) were responsible for the audit.

Participatory and democratic management at the Oswaldo Cruz Foundation is most expressed in the choice of the president by direct vote of the active public servants of the institution. Since 1992, the Presidency of the Republic has endorsed the final result by appointing the elected candidate or the most voted by the Fiocruz community, in the case of the formation of a triple list.