[3] 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.

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

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.

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.

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

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.

[29] 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.

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.

[36] The program is made up of four "participants" (the federal government, debtors, creditors (such as financial institutions, public utility services, retail companies, service providers in general, including individual microentrepreneurs and small businesses), and financial agents, such as banks) and has the stated objective of reducing debt among the population (especially the low income and middle classes), as well as facilitating access to credit by the general population.

[38] The National Congress enacted the reform on 20 December 2023, in a solemn session attended by the three heads of the republic's powers (executive, legislative and judiciary), as well as ministers Fernando Haddad, from the finance ministry, and Simone Tebet, from the planning ministry; Senate President Rodrigo Pacheco described the promulgation of the reform as "not only a historic milestone, but also a turning point" and claimed that this would "change Brazil's trajectory".

The decree empowers the National Monetary Council (CMN), the country's top economic policy body, to determine the target.

But Lula's economic team advocates that pursuing inflation targets within a continuous timeframe allows a longer-term approach that provides more room to accommodate price shocks without requiring monetary tightening.

[43] According to the decree, starting in January 2025, the target will be considered missed if annual inflation deviates for six consecutive months from the range of the respective tolerance interval.

In such cases, the central bank will issue an open letter to the finance minister explaining the reasons, necessary measures to bring inflation back to target, and the expected timeline for their effectiveness.

However, the Superior Electoral Court ruled on 31 August that the former president is ineligible for candidacy due to his being disqualified under the Clean Slate law, which bans people convicted on appeal from running for public office.

During his mandate as mayor of São Paulo, he was nicknamed "Jaiminho" by Brazilian historian and radio host Marco Antonio Villa, an outspoken critic of Haddad's Workers' Party.