Under the Constitution of 1967, the President was to be elected indirectly, by an absolute majority of both houses of Congress. Costa e Silva was nominated as the candidate of the military-backed National Renewal Alliance Party (ARENA); he was the only candidate. In any event, ARENA's dominance of Congress was so absolute that the presidential campaign essentially ended with Costa e Silva's nomination. He was duly elected on October 3, 1966, by a vote of 295–0, with 41 abstentions and 136 members not voting. He was sworn in on March 15, 1967.