posted 07.18.2021 at 06:00

A little more than a year before the 2022 elections, a Constitutional Amendment (PEC) proposal is being debated in the National Congress, which aims to change the rules for electing deputies and councilors at the federal, state and district levels. According to the text, the idea is to end the proportional system, which is currently used to elect parliamentarians, and introduce a so-called constituency next year, which will operate on the principle of the majority system used in the elections of the president, governors, senators. and mayors.

According to the proposal, those who received the most votes will be elected by the MPs regardless of the activities of the party to which they belong. In the proportional model, for a candidate to win, the party to which he belongs must first gain the minimum number of votes to be eligible for seats in the Legislature. If the abbreviation does not reach this electoral coefficient, the candidate will not be elected, even if he receives the expressed number of votes.

The PEC only wants to use the constituency in 2022, on a temporary basis, as the main purpose of the text is to introduce a mixed constituency system after the 2024 municipal elections. In this model, voters will have to vote twice for elected office in the Chamber of Deputies, in the Legislative Assemblies, in the Legislative Chamber of the Federal District, and in the Chambers of Councilors.

The first vote will be for the candidate who has a stronghold in the constituency where the voter votes. The second is for any other name that is running for these positions in a state or city. The same candidate could run on both lists. The Supreme Electoral Court (TSE) will be responsible for determining the constituencies in the year before the elections.

Thus, some of the representatives will be elected by the principle of majority in the constituencies, and the other part will be elected according to the proportional system of open lists, which is happening today. In the case of elections to councilors, this method will only work for cities with at least 100,000 voters. For PECs to take effect in the 2022 elections, the issue must be approved by the House and Senate by early October.

Dissonance
The proposal is being analyzed by a special commission created by the chamber to consider the issue, but there is no consensus among the deputies of the collegium. According to correspondent Renata Abreu (Podemos-SP), the proportional open-list system helps “consolidate and widen the distance separating representatives from those represented.”

“A majoritarian electoral system provides greater precision between voting at ballot boxes and representation in parliament. It is, without a doubt, the fairest system and the one that most respects the people’s sovereignty, ”he defends.

But the move to the county has been criticized by other legislators who classify the system as a failure. Commission president Luis Thibé (Avante-MG) muses that “the district will make it impossible for new leaders to emerge in Congress and facilitate the election of candidates supported by militias and the drug trade.”

“We would have deputies without popular representation and with few ideologies, not to mention the fact that we would put an end to party loyalty, since the mandate would not belong to the party. Candidates got there only for the sake of the interests of some group. This is bad for democracy, ”he notes.

Less representative

Brazilian Legislative Observatory coordinator and political scientist João Feres says that the implementation of the constituency and mixed constituency, in addition to reducing representation in Congress, could hinder the renewal of parliament. “The politician who wins in a particular constituency begins to establish clientelism with everyone, especially the most influential people, and remains the constituency’s candidate forever. Thus, the level of renewal in the district is usually very low, ”he notes.

Political analyst Ivan Ervolino, director of strategy for the political intelligence startup Sigalei, admits that parliament needs to discuss election programs to promote democracy in the country, but he fears that the proposal is being analyzed hastily.

“I am concerned about the speed with which these questions are being asked, and this haste leads to the wrong model or assumption. The biggest problem with any electoral model is to minimize the balance between the will of the majority and the interests of the minority, ”he says.

“Political personalism”

The proposal has two major drawbacks. Firstly, in form, as it is discussed at the last minute in order to satisfy the special interests of some parliamentarians. A proposal with such influence requires extensive discussion and time for debate to mature. This is deservedly also bad, as it weakens parties and strengthens personalism in politics.
In addition, this will lead to a decrease in the number of candidates, and this will have negative consequences, such as: fewer people involved in politics through campaigns; candidacies of persons with great personal economic power; an increase in the number of courageous candidates who use their prominence to get elected, perform poorly and are completely cut off from the party and the base.

Camilo Onoda Caldas, Constitutional Lawyer and Doctor of Law from the University of São Paulo (USP)