“Our people will not fulfill their destiny if they do not organize themselves into a party”, stated Leonel Brizola, in the Lisbon Letter, in June 1979, referring to the importance of parties for the democratic exercise of politics.
Shortly after the amnesty enacted in August of the same year, the National Congress approved the law that authorized the return of multipartyism in Brazil.
Around the effervescent debate of ideas and proposals, Brazil began to breathe democracy after years of military dictatorship and the challenge became to form parties that would give a voice to those who had been silenced for years or who did not feel represented in the forced bipartisanship of the military period.
The freedom to create parties, however, led to record fragmentation in the 2018 elections, with the election of federal deputies from 30 different benches.
After successive electoral mini-reforms, a constitutional amendment established the new rules for the 2022 elections.
This brief history points us to the path of political formation and party organization. What is the political culture that derives from the spirit (always Montesquieu) of the new electoral legislation?
Federation as maintenance of power
The analysis could focus on praiseworthy aspects of the reform, such as valuing the presence of women and blacks, with the stimulus that, once elected, they produce twice as much resources for the party fund.
Or even the sensible decision to swear in the president on January 5th and the governors on January 6th of the year following the election, and no longer on January 1st, as until now.
However, what motivates political science, in general, and party life, in particular, is the result that the new legislation will have in the formation of Brazilian parties, and how much of an effective contribution to the consolidation of democracy in the country lies there.
In this sense, the most relevant aspect of the new legislation is the concept of “party federation”.
Party federation means that two or more parties can come together in a federation, which, after its constitution and respective registration with the Superior Electoral Court (TSE), will act as if it were a single party association.
According to the TSE, the federation has “the objective of allowing the subtitles to act in a unified way throughout the country, as a test for an eventual merger or incorporation”.
Federation, however, is more of a form of maintaining power and control, especially of party and electoral funds, and less of a party-building tool.
The commitment will be made vertically, within the scope of national executives, without considering local and regional differences. This is the spirit of this rule of amendment to the Constitution.
However, federation is not a legal imposition. It is the decision of the political parties.
The parties considered large encourage the federation as a way of co-opting the “best” names of the so-called “small” parties, strengthening their legend; some small ones find in the federation the subterfuge to continue existing.
As an example, the PSDB and PT propose federation to Cidadania and PC do B, respectively.
In nothing the federation promotes party growth, rather it only renews the strength of caciquismo, both in the large and small parties.
In this political arrangement, the same leaders will tend to be reelected.
The alternative to party federation
In opposition to this caciquismo, there is an alternative.
While the federation statute aims to organize slates through internal hierarchies, offering the new composition already established leaders, some parties have rejected this proposal, guided by the principle of equal conditions for the dispute: the slates bring together rising leaders who, in a way, they contribute to the healthy renewal of the party’s leadership.
But the examples are not many.
The Sustainability Network, by Marina Silva, tried in 2018, but was unsuccessful and is now seeking to participate in a federation.
Avante, in turn, which in 2018 overcame the barrier clause, will try again to overcome it in 2022 without joining a federation.
To this end, the information that party leaders circulate is that, in the preparation of the slates of deputies, there is a set of criteria that determine the vocation for party formation: the participation of non-elected candidates in the mandates of those who were elected and the sharing of the party fund observing the next election.
However, the traditional parties (PT, MDB, PP, PSDB) make an effort to maintain control over the smaller parties from the federation, since the bond will have the configuration of bench for four years, which is the time of the mandate.
It cannot be disregarded either that the federation is a vertical decision, from top to bottom, which will not observe regional peculiarities; instituted, will define the orientation of the party also in the municipal elections of 2024.
In other words, the leaders who fight the political dispute strongly in the cities may have to share the same federation by superior deliberation, alien to their local objectives.
Very different from what the parties that choose to face the polls with autonomy and independence, without resorting to federation, propose.
In the latter, the criteria of party solidarity, in order to engage leaders in the construction of the party, prioritize internal democracy and the perspective of its vitality and renewal.
For the upcoming elections, the parties will present themselves to the Brazilian population on May 31, when the deadline for formalizing federations ends.
From that date, then, we will be able to form our judgment on which organizations prioritize the strengthening of political parties, as Leonel Brizola wanted and as democracy requires, more than ever.
