Political scientist Rafael Cortez believes that the main highlight of the electoral reform is the veto of party coalitions in the elections of deputies and councilors.
“The main reason for the noticeable influence of this veto is that proportional coalitions fictitiously used voter representation, since the number of electoral coalitions was not maintained throughout the entire legislative process, but varied only to count votes and increase the number of seats of a particular party,” Cortez explained. CNN…
The political scientist argues that voters had no control over where their vote went. “In the end I voted for candidate A and helped choose the name of party B, which clearly contradicted the will of the voter.”
The Senate approved this Wednesday (22) in two rounds a Proposed Constitutional Amendment (PEC) electoral reform and canceled the return of coalitions. The proposal gives more weight to votes for women and blacks while dividing party resources.
Since the Senate suppressed only those parts that did not reach consensus, such as the return of party unions, there is no need for PECs to return to the Chamber of Deputies. The text is now due to be made public by the President of Congress, Senator Rodrigo Pacheco (DEM-MG), by October 2. If this does not happen by that date, the rules will not apply to next year’s elections.
According to Cortez, the political system in Brazil is very complex from the point of view of the electorate. “It is very difficult to trace where this vote is going, because, in fact, as soon as we vote for a candidate, we vote for a party without knowing it. For example, it is unlikely that a deputy is elected only by the personal votes that he receives. The vote of the elected deputy is the sum of the individual votes with the votes cast by the people in the party legend. “
