Fernando Haddad

Haddad was born in São Paulo, the second of three children of salesman Khalil Haddad, a Melkite Antiochian Greek Orthodox immigrant from Lebanon who emigrated to Brazil in 1948.

Fernando Haddad (São Paulo, 25 January 1963) is a Brazilian scholar, lawyer and politician who has served as the Brazilian Minister of Finance since 1 January 2023.

Haddad attended high school at Colégio Bandeirantes, and in 1981 entered the Law School of the University of São Paulo as an undergraduate.

He studied law, economics and philosophy at the University of São Paulo.

Haddad holds a master's degree in economics and a Doctorate in Philosophy from the University of São Paulo.

His Master's dissertation was on socio-economic aspects of the Soviet Union, defended in 1990, whereas his doctorate thesis is concerned with historical materialism, defended in 1996.

Haddad began his career as an investment analyst at Unibanco, but has devoted much of his career to public service.

Haddad has been a consultant for the Fundação Instituto de Pesquisas Econômicas, an economics research institute, based at the School of Economics, Business and Accounting of the University of São Paulo, chief of staff to the Finance and Economic Development Secretary of the municipality of São Paulo, and a special advisor to the Ministry of Planning, Budget and Management.

Haddad is a professor in the political science department of the University of São Paulo.

Between 2001 and 2003, he served as the Undersecretary of Finance and Economic Development for São Paulo, during Marta Suplicy's administration.

He also held a position within the Ministry of Planning during the Lula government, under the administration of Guido Mantega (2003-2004), during which time he authored the bill that established public-private partnerships (PPPs) in Brazil.

He was appointed as the Minister of Education in July 2005 by President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva and held the position until January 2012.

During his tenure as minister, significant educational initiatives were introduced, including the Institutional Teaching Initiation Scholarship Programme (PIBID) and the Unified Selection System (SiSU).

Additionally, the Open University of Brazil and the Federal Institute of Education, Science and Technology were established.

Notably, he played a key role in implementing the University for All Programme (ProUni) and spearheading the reformulation and expansion of the Higher Education Student Financing Fund (FIES) along with the Exame Nacional do Ensino Médio.

Haddad was minister of education from 2005 to 2012 in the cabinets of Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva and Dilma Rousseff.

Haddad took over the cabinet position of Minister of Education on 29 July 2005, when his predecessor, Tarso Genro, left the position to become the chairman of the Workers' Party.

In 2007, Haddad established the Basic Education Development Index (IDEB) to measure the quality of public primary and middle schools.

Under Haddad's tenure as minister, the Lula administration implemented the University for Everyone Program (ProUni), which aims at offering scholarships for low-income students attending private universities.

The Ministry also made several reforms to the National High School Exam (ENEM) so as to amplify its usage in university admissions.

In 2009 Haddad's ministry became embroiled in controversy after that year's ENEM leaked, which forced the government to cancel the exam scheduled for October.

In 2012, he achieved the position of mayor in the municipality of São Paulo through a victory over the candidate from the Brazilian Social Democracy Party (PSDB), José Serra, in the second round of elections.

During the 2012 municipal elections, Haddad was a candidate for Mayor of São Paulo.

After successfully advancing to the second round, he faced former mayor José Serra (who had received the most votes in the first round) and won with 55.57% of the valid votes.

He was previously the mayor of São Paulo from 2013 to 2017 and the Brazilian minister of education from 2005 to 2012.

Haddad is a professor of political science at the University of São Paulo (USP), from which he graduated with a bachelor's degree in law, a master's degree in economics and a doctorate in philosophy.

He also worked as an investment analyst at Unibanco.

In June 2013, his administration faced widespread demonstrations, when São Paulo city hall and the government of the state of São Paulo (which runs the train and metro system of São Paulo) announced that bus fares would be raised from R$3.00 to R$3.20.

The violent repression of these protests by the São Paulo state police generated a widespread reaction by the general population.

The resulting 2013 protests were the second biggest movement in comparison with 2015 protests against President Dilma Rousseff.

As Mayor, Haddad implemented an expansion of the city's network of bike lanes, promising to extend it from 64.7 km to 400 km in 2016.

The project sparked polarized reactions by residents of São Paulo.

In July 2016, Haddad had the approval of only 14% of city residents, the lowest for the end of a mayoral term since Celso Pitta in 2000.

On 2 October 2016, Haddad lost his bid for re-election to Brazilian Social Democracy Party candidate João Doria, receiving only 17% of the vote.

He left office on 1 January 2017.

In 2022, Haddad ran for governor of São Paulo with his running mate former first lady Lúcia França, against Tarcísio de Freitas, a minister in the Bolsonaro administration.

Haddad lost the election in the second round, winning 44.73% of the vote to Tarcísio's 55.27%.

After his election loss in São Paulo, Haddad was appointed Minister of Finance by fellow party member President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, following his victory in the 2022 presidential election.

He was the Workers' Party candidate for President of Brazil in the 2018 election, replacing former president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, whose candidacy was barred by the Superior Electoral Court under the Clean Slate law.

Haddad faced Jair Bolsonaro in the run-off of the election, and lost the election with 44.87% of the votes against Bolsonaro's 55.13%.