Senate Approves End of Coalitions and Imposes Barrier Clause

10/04/2017 - 10h22

The Senate approved, on Tuesday (3), to vote on a project that puts an end to coalitions for the election of the Legislative Branch and creates rules to bar parties with poor electoral support.

The text was unanimously accepted by the 58 senators in attendance, and is now pending enactment.

After several months in deadlock, the project was swiftly approved in two sessions, in less than 30 minutes.

According to the text, the barrier clause is applicable as of next year's elections. The end of coalitions, on the other hand, is expected to become effective in 2020 only.

The original authors of the PEC (Proposed Amendment to the Constitution) are PSDB's senators, Ricardo Ferraço (ES) and Aécio Neves (MG). Congresswoman Shéridan Oliveira (PSDB-RR) reported the case in the lower house of Congress.

The text was approved by the Senate in November 2016, but the analysis was only completed last week by the lower house, close to the deadline in order to become effective in 2018.

The PEC had to be reviewed by senators, due to changes made by congressmen.

COALITION

Pursuant to the rules currently in force, parties are allowed to freely form coalitions, despite having completely different ideologies. The proposal will put an end to that, effective as of the 2020's election.

The other measure under the PEC also affects small parties. It creates a performance clause (or barrier clause) which intends to smother poorly performing parties.

Such parties already face some restrictions to operate, such as lower public funds and shorter air time for political campaigns.

Translated by ANA BEATRIZ DEMARIA

Read the article in the original language

	Ueslei Marcelino/Reuters
	Brazil's Senate