States Extent Long Life to Assembly Presidents

01/11/2017 - 13h07

In the last 12 years, the State of Piauí has re-elected a governor, was governed for eight years by another and ended up electing the one before that for a third term.

During this same time period, the Legislative Assembly has had only one president, who will remain in office for at least two more years.

While the National Congress discusses the constitutionality of re-electing Rodrigo Maia (Democrats), Presidents of State Assemblies accumulate consecutive two-year-terms. In Piauí, Themístocles Flho (Brazilian Democratic Movement Party) broke a historic record: he is the longest running President since the Assemblies re-established their activities after the Estado Novo (New State), which ended in 1945.

In Pernambuco and Bahia, Guilherme Uchoa (Democratic Labour Party) and Marcelo Nilo (Social Liberal Party), respectively, have already been in office for 10 years - Uchoa was just re-elected for another two-year term from 2017-2018 while Nilo is running for another term in February. All three have a history of working closely with the Executive branch and for the benefit of their peers.

The rules regarding the re-election of the President aren't the same in all of the Assemblies and are defined by their respective State Constitutions.

In Pernambuco, for example, an amendment was approved in 2011 that prohibits being re-elected more than once to the office.

However, since the rule only applies to the current legislature (2015-2018), Uchoa argued that the law couldn't be applied retroactively and therefore considers that his first term is from 2015-2016 and that the second would be from 2017-2018.

Legal opinions from the Public Prosecutor and the Assembly support the President's interpretation. The OAB (Brazilian Lawyers' Association), however, sees it differently and has opened a judicial proceeding seeking the end of his term in office.

Translated by LLOYD HARDER

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