Experts say that haste in the legislative process is common in the country, especially in state assemblies and municipal councils, but speeding up consideration of important projects undermines democratic rites.

“In the name of negotiation, which is often out of the view of the average citizen, the Legislature is not fulfilling the expected aspects of its functions of holding discussions, including those involving,” says USP Doctor of Political Science and CEO Humberto Dantas, spokesman for the Conscious Vote movement. “.

Lira, in turn, says that all decisions made at the plenary meeting fit into the regimental norms. “The change in the method of voting was adopted by the decision of the act of the Presidium.”ad referendum“It is also provided for in the regiment,” the message says.

For Chamber of Deputies Minority Leader Alencar Santana (PT-SP), Lira’s tactics are “bad” for Parliament.

What the government is interested in is in regimental incidents with a change in the rules of the game almost during the match and in its last minutes.
Alencar Santana (PT-SP), House Minority Leader

“The processes and logic of the legislature are perverted in light of what was originally thought to be parliamentary response to representativeness, diversity, different currents of thought,” says Dantas. “This gives us the impression that it interferes with the interests of those who want flexibility. Autocratic decisions, infinitely more fluid than democratic decisions, but they are also indisputable.”

set of obstacles

Five months after taking office as President of the Chamber, in 2021, Lira fulfilled a campaign promise: with the support of a majority of deputies, he approved a change in the charter to reduce the so-called “obstruction kit” – tools provided for in the regiment used to postpone or even prohibit voting on projects , mostly from the opposition.

The change of regiment was a request from parties in the base of the government who allegedly wanted to speed up the coordination of projects. The amendment abolished the provisions concerning the extension of the session and the reduction of the speech time of deputies when discussing drafts.

At the time, Lyra defended the changes on social media. “We had a regiment created in 1989, which had instruments from the times of the military regime, 1972, when there was a bipartisanship,” he wrote.

groups x commissions

Since the pandemic, the Accounts Chamber has also become more active in using working groups to process controversial projects, such as the release of gambling games and the new Criminal Code.

Commissions must necessarily follow the rules defined in the statutes, such as the representation of all parties in proportion to their presence in the Chamber, as well as the procedure for voting on reports. Not in a working group.

The bands began to rise to prominence in 2020, at the height of the pandemic when commissions were suspended, but continued after sanitary regulations were relaxed.

In October of the same year, a meeting was held to create a working group to study the internal regulations of the Chamber of Deputies, consisting of 15 members, of which 7 belonged to the PSL party bloc (currently União Brasil).

Lira has also set up a working group to discuss the adoption of a semi-presidency in Brazil, but says the project should be discussed calmly and only put to a vote in plenary session in the next legislature.