Juliana Mello

Juliana Mello


The Brazil Business

Updated

Political Parties in Brazil

Juliana Mello

Juliana Mello


The Brazil Business

Updated

Brazil has a multiparty system with several political parties sharing the vote. In this article we will provide information on the most active Brazilian parties and give a general idea of how the political works in the country

Political parties in Brazil were born during the monarchical period (1822-1889), but the country would only experience really ideological parties in the early 20 century. In president Getúlio Vargas dictatorship (1930-1945) several political parties were created, but they were all put in illegality, from 1966 to 1979, during the Military Dictatorship (1945-1985). In this period, Brazil came back to the two party political system.

With the return of democracy, in 1986, and the establishment of the 1988 Constitution, the multiparty political system was set back and several parties were founded. This back and forward of Brazilian political party system generated an enormous amount of parties, most of them with confusing and nonsensical ideas.

Numerous parties

As stressed above, Brazil has a multiparty political system, with full freedom affiliation. We live in what some social science analysts call of Coalition Democracy, where no party can gain power alone, they have to create alliances in order to stand for the elections and govern. The parties' so stated ideology not always combine with each other, as many of them are loose coalitions of local and individual leaderships.

According to the Tribunal Superior Eleitoral, TSE (Superior Electoral Court), Brazil counts with 32 registered parties, with more than 15 million people affiliated. Still, there are more than 40 others parties awaiting to get legal. In total, there are over 70 parties! Hard to think of 70 different governance ideologies when you take a look at what politics have been doing in Brazil.

Out of so many, so few

Of its 32 officially registered parties, Brazil is actually governed by a group of five parties, that dominate the national political landscape:

  • PT - Partido dos Trabalhadores (Worker's Party)

The Worker's Party was officially launched in 1982, from a trade union organization of workers in the state of São Paulo, led by former president Luis Inácio Lula da Silva. After Lula's administration (2003-2011), PT successfully conducted other of its members, president Dilma Roussef, to presidency. With a center-left orientation, PT is one of the most expressive parties in Brazil.

The party in numbers:

Affiliates: 1.566.208 Congressmen: 89 (majority) State deputies: 149 Senators: 14 (majority) Governors: 5

  • PSBD – Partido da Social Democracia Brasileira (Brazilian Social Democracy Party)

PSDB was founded in 1988 by important figures of national politics, as former president Fernando Henrique Cardoso. The party classifies its orientation as center-left, but several left-wing intellectuals and critics define PSDB actions as center-right. PSDB dispute the political hegemony in Brazil. In a recent past, you could see a significant difference between the two parties, but nowadays they adopt pretty much the same political and economic measures.

The party in numbers:

Affiliates: 1.410.917 Congressmen: 53 State deputies: Senators: 11 Governors: 8

  • PMDB – Partido do Movimento Democrático Brasileiro (Brazilian Democratic Movement Party)

Like PSDB, PMDB was born from one of the dictatorship parties, the MDB. It is a center-right party.

The party in numbers:

Affiliates: 2.420.327 Congressmen: 79 State deputies: 152 Senators: 18 Governors: 5

  • DEM – Democratas (Democrats)

DEM is a center-right party, adept to the liberalism. It was created in 2007, to replace the PFL after a dissidence in the party.

The party in numbers:

Affiliates: 1.224.069 Congressmen: 27 State deputies: 64 Senators: 4 Governors: 2

  • PP – Partido Progressista (Progressive Party)

The PP origins remounts to dictatorship party ARENA. It is know for its religious right-wing orientation.

The party in numbers:

Affiliates: 1.405.393 Congressmen: 44 State deputies: 49 Senators: 5 Governors: 0

Smaller parties often make alliances with at least one of those five major parties.