Brazil, Electoral Reform Legislation

Brazil's Electoral Code, Law 4.737 (July 15, 1965), and Organic Law on Political Parties, Law 5.682 (July 21, 1971), date back to the period of the military dictatorship. Although some of their provisions have been revoked or modified by constitutional reforms or subsequent legislation, they remain in force as basic legislation on the electoral rules.

The restoration of democracy in 1985 produced basic changes in the electoral rules. These changes were mandated by Constitutional Amendment 25 (May 15, 1985), which reinstituted direct elections for the president and vice president and for municipal offices, permitted reorganization of banned political parties, enfranchised illiterates, and eliminated a constitutional provision that required loss of mandate for a senator or deputy who failed to follow his or her political party.

The right to vote was further expanded by the 1988 Constitution. Article 14 provides that "popular sovereignty shall be exercised by universal suffrage through direct and secret vote, with equal value for all." Illiterates and juveniles as young as sixteen may vote in all elections, but literacy is required in order to be eligible to run for public office. Voting is mandatory for all literate persons between the ages of eighteen and seventy. Suffrage is, however, not universal, for conscripts are disfranchised during their period of obligatory military service.

Supervision of elections and political parties, as well as the resolution of election disputes, is committed to the Electoral Courts. The Superior Electoral Tribunal (TSE) is made up of three members of the Supreme Court (STF), two members of the Superior Tribunal of Justice (STJ), and two distinguished lawyers, all of whom serve two-year terms that can be renewed only once. The Electoral Code sets out in great detail the rules for the operation of the Electoral Tribunals, whose jurisdiction is defined by the 1988 Constitution. It also sets out in great detail rules for the registration of voters and the conduct of elections, including measures such as secret ballots, transportation to the polls, and processing of returns. Candidates must be registered by parties. The Code provides methods for supervision of the balloting process and for nullifying contested ballots. It also defines a series of electoral crimes, triable before the Electoral Tribunals. Finally, the Code regulates electoral propaganda. Supervision of this propaganda by the Electoral Courts was eliminated by Law 7.332 (July 1, 1985).

The 1988 Constitution reformed prior practice to require runoff elections between the top two candidates for the president, governors, and mayors of cities with at least 200,000 voters if no candidate attains an absolute majority on the first ballot. Elections for senators and mayors of cities with fewer than 200,000 voters may be decided a plurality. Federal and state deputies and city counciI members are chosen by proportional elections. The constitution also confers a right to free radio and television time on political parties.

Complimentary Law 78 of 1993 provides that each state have a minimum of eight federal deputies and a maximum of sixty, a system that gives the less populous states gross overrepresentation in the federal congress.

In 1993 Brazil's legislature passed a law requiring all candidates to report their campaign contributions on a register known as the prestação de contas. The Organic Law of Political Parties, passed in 1995, intended to reduce party switching, among other goals. It also imposed tougher restrictions for establishing new political parties. Quotas for women candidates at the level of city council were added the following year.

Constitutional Amendment 16 of 1997 permits reelection of the president, governors, and mayors for one subsequent term and reduces the presidential mandate from a five- to a four-year term. Law 9504 of 1997 requires each party to reserve a minimum of thirty percent and a maximum of seventy percent of their candidacies for persons of each sex, a curious form of gender quota. This law also provides for electronic voting and regulation of eIectora1 propaganda. Constitutional Amendment 52 of 2006 assures political parties that there be no requirement of linkage among national, state, district, or county candidates.

See alsoBrazil, Constitutions .

BIBLIOGRAPHY

The Electoral Code and the Organic Law of Political Parties with subsequent amendments are published in Juarez De Oliveira, ed., Código Eleitoral: Lei orgânica dos partidos políticos; Legislação correlata e Súmulas do Tribunal Superior Eleitoral, 10th ed. (1993). A useful historical perspective on Brazilian electoral reform can be found in Toshio Mukai, "Sistemas eleitorais no Brasil," Revista de Direito Constitucional e Ciência Política (Special number, 1987): 307-348.

Additional Bibliography

Krause, Silvana, and Rogério Schmitt. Partidos e coligações eleitorais no Brasil. Rio de Janeiro: Konrad Adenauer Stiftung; São Paulo, Brazil: Editora Unesp, 2005.

Mainwaring, Scott P. Rethinking Party Systems in the Third Wave of Democratization: The Case of Brazil. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press, 1999.

Martínez-Lara, Javier. Building Democracy in Brazil: The Politics of Constitutional Change, 1985–95. New York: St. Martin's Press, 1996.

Nicolau, Jairo Marconi. História do voto no Brasil. Rio de Janeiro: Jorge Zahar Editor, 2002.

Trindade, Hélgio, ed. Reforma eleitoral e representação política: Brasil anos 90. Porto Alegre, Brazil: Editora da Universidade, Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul, 1992.

                                     Keith S. Rosenn