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Political Reform Proposal Advances in the Senate

11/10/2016 - 13h45

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DÉBORA ÁLVARES
FROM BRASÍLIA

Brazilian Senators approved on Wednesday night (the 9th) the first round of voting for the proposal for political reform which has the objective of reducing the number of political parties. This would be accomplished by ending party coalitions and by a barrier clause established in the text.

Before moving to the House of Congress it still has to pass a second round of voting in the Senate which is set for the 23rd of November.

Proportional elections would be permitted until 2020, when municipal elections would be held to elect mayors and council members.

The barrier clause establishes norms for the functioning of political parties. Each party designation would only be allowed to continue operating if it received 2% of the valid votes in the entire country starting with the election of 2018.

This percent would have to be distributed among at least 14 different States, each of them with 2% of the vote as well. In 2022, this process would make a transition and the percent would be raised to 3%.

The idea is to prevent "regional parties", as argued by one of the proposal's authors, senator Aécio Neves (PSDB-MG).

Currently, Brazil has 32 party designations of which 28 have representation in the Congress. More than 40 more are in line, waiting for formal approval by the Electoral Courts.

The President of the Senate, Renan Calheiros (PMDB-AL), has defended fast-track status and handling of the proposal in Congress.

Translated by LLOYD HARDER

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