Eduardo Paes

Eduardo da Costa Paes was born on November 14th 1969 in Rio de Janeiro. He graduated from Law School at the Pontific Catholic University of Rio (PUC-RJ).

Eduardo Paes was elected Mayor of Rio de Janeiro in the 2008 elections when he obtained 1.696.195 votes (50,83% of valid ballots) on the second round. On the first round, Mr Paes won most electoral precincts and finished first with 31,98% of valid ballots (1.049.019).

The Mayor began his 4-year mandate on January 1st 2009 with an agenda including proposals such as a shock of urban order in the city, the end of automatic graduation for students in the municipal school system and the project to revitalize and reintegrate the port and docks area together with the old city center known as "Porto Maravilha". He was one of the leaders of the successful bid for the 2016 Olympic Games.

Eduardo Paes began his political career in 1993, only 23 years old, when he was appointed to head the municipal district of Jacarepagua and Barra. In 1996, he was elected to the Municipal Assembly with the largest number of votes among all candidates with a total of 82.418 votes.

He was elected to the National Congress in 1998 with 117.164 votes. He took a leave of absence from Congress to be the Municipal Secretary for the Environment during the administration of Mayor Cesar Maia. Four years later, a rising star of his generation, he was reelected to Congress for a second term with 186.221 votes.

During his first term in Congress, Mr Paes was chairman of the Budget Committee where he introduced key reforms. He was a member of several commissions for Tax Reform and Parliamentary Investigation on Fraud.

In 2007, Eduardo Paes was invited by Sérgio Cabral, Governor of the State of Rio de Janeiro, to be the State Secretary of Tourism, Sports and Leisure. He was involved in the organization of the 2007 Pan-American Games. In October of the same year, he announced his intention to run for Mayor of Rio de Janeiro.

In a unprecedented partnership with the State and Federal governments, Mayor Eduardo Paes is working on the social and economic development of the city as well as the organization of the 2014 World Cup and the 2016 Olympic Games among other main international events to be held in Rio de Janeiro in the coming years.