“Weakening party loyalty is a failure”

The Senate Plenary approved last Wednesday (22) a Constitutional Amendment Proposal (PEC) on electoral reform (PEC 28/2021), rejected the return of coalitions in proportional elections, but weakened party loyalty. Now the deputies and councilors who left the party from which they were elected will not lose their mandate if the party agrees to leave. According to political scientist Luciana Santana, this measure should return to strengthening the country’s political institutions.

“I think there was a failure. What is the purpose of building loyalty? Minimize intense party migrations, as we saw before 2007, and ensure greater representation in parties, which, for example, are the units that will determine the guiding principles and positions of MPs, ”says the political scientist, stressing that flexibility increases the opportunity many migrations. during the same period.

Currently, when changing parties, parliamentarians retain their mandate only in the case of “good reason”, which includes, according to Law 9 096 of 1995, “a significant change or repeated deviation from the party program; serious personal political discrimination; and during the 30-day period preceding the term of membership required by law to participate in elections. ” The text with the new rules is awaiting adoption, and in order to take effect in the 2022 elections, this must happen before October 2 of this year.

Also, according to Luciana Santana, reform should not be taking place at this time.

“Since this is happening on the eve of the elections, without dialogue and participation of other actors in the discussion, this should not happen,” he says to the Independente Tribuna.

As for the return of the coalitions, the political scientist considers the rejection of the proposal by the Chamber of Deputies positive.

“I consider this decision positive in terms of rejecting the proposal, given that this is a recent rule, approved in 2017 and not even tested in state and federal elections. It is necessary that the legislation be approved and applied for a long time, so that we can observe the consequences and whether the goals for which it was proposed are being achieved, ”the political scientist explains.

According to Luciana Santana, it would be better to approve measures to reduce the number of political parties, which will minimize the participation of “parties for hire” in the elections.

SENATE

During the Senate vote, the rapporteur on the matter, Simone Tebet (MDB), said that the rejection of the coalitions approved by the Chamber of Deputies was due to “the thought that the principle of electoral priority is unconstitutional here,” he said.

As for the flexibility of party loyalty, the senator argued that this protects parliamentarians.

“Another opportunity for MPs and councilors not to lose their mandate when they ask to leave the party. This is what the courts have already discussed and are moving forward. “

Party presidents disagree with new rules

A Tribune he tracked down the leaders of the Alagoas party to get their views on the recently approved changes in the National Congress. Among those who responded to the report, Rui Palmeira (Podemos) and Ricardo Barbosa (PT), there are disagreements over coalitions.

“I consider the adopted amendments positive. The main thing is not to return to proportional coalitions. This is very important for strengthening parties and reducing the number of parties in the future. There are representatives of nearly thirty parties in our Congress, ”comments Rui Palmeira. “This means that it needs to be radically reduced. Who knows, in the future, with the end of proportional coalitions and with the provision of efficiency, we may have an acceptable number of parties in our country, ”concludes the President of Podemos in Alagoas.

As for Ricardo Barbosa, since coalitions are prohibited, parties face a number of difficulties in electing or re-electing their parliamentarians.

“The banning of coalitions is accompanied by another measure in the opposite direction, which removes the obligation of party loyalty from the electoral law, which gives the election a pragmatic political content,” says the PT president in Alagoas.

Also, according to the leader of the PT, the abolition of the obligation of party loyalty will allow a deputy or council member in the electoral process, feeling that he will have difficulties in his party, to move freely.

“A candidate who feels that no surplus or coefficient is required to be elected will be able to freely migrate from one party without any sanctions. It seems to me that this is a way to compensate for the Brazilian political and electoral system, which has never favored programmatic issues, so that physiology continues to exist, ”says Ricardo Barbosa.