Ana Maria Rangel

Ana Maria Rangel (Rio de Janeiro, May 21, 1957) is a Brazilian politician and was the Progressive Republican Party presidential candidate in 2006. Rangel was, alongside Heloísa Helena, the first female candidate to run for President of Brazil. She had no political background other than completing a major in political science.

Ana Maria Rangel ran a controversial presidential campaign. The TSE approved her candidacy days short of the deadline and she was not able to actively promote her campaign while the TSE was holding various hearings to determine whether or not she would be allowed to run.

Problems arose when she had TV Globo (Largest Television station in Brasil), secretly film her being bribed 10 million reais to be allowed to be the party's presidential candidate. After the story aired on national TV, the party began attempting to nullify her candidacy claiming she "is destroying the image of the party". Though she only meant to denounce corruption, she was suffering many difficulties in approving her candidacy.

She ended up in fifth place in the elections, losing to the candidates of the PT, PSDB, P-SOL and PDT, respectively.

Ana Maria Rangel was the first female candidate to run for President of Brazil, moreover with another female on her ticket. She had no political background other than completing a major in political science.

Rangel lived many years in Atlanta, Georgia and owned various businesses.