Brazil: the 1988 Constitution

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Brazil the 1988 Constitution

• Representative Democracy under the Center-Right?

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CONSTITUTION OF 1988

• Three branches of government executive,
  legislative, and judicial.

• The distribution of power, the limits on the
  states and governmental authority, and how policy
  is framed and executed changed substantially
  under 1988 constitution.

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Robust Federalism

• 1988 constitution continues over-representation
  of small states
• Half of tax revenue returned to states with no
  mandates as to how money will be spent
• Assists in maintaining clientilism at local level
• Congressmen tasked with bringing home the bacon
• Implications of Itamar Francos challenge (as
  Governor of Minas Gerias) to the national
  executive 6

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Institutions of the 1988 Republic

• Patterned on U.S. Constitutions separation of
  powers
• President elected directly by people
• Bicameral Congress
• Chamber of Deputies (513 members)
• Senate Three members from each state and the
  Federal District (81 members)
• Supreme Court (power of judicial review)

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Presidential Election of 1994

• Itamar Franco as a caretaker president
• Another accidental presidency
• Fernando Henrique Cardoso as architect of
  economic recovery Real Plan
• Resounding victory by Henrique Cardoso Two
  rounds permitted only one necessary

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1994 Election Results
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President Fernando Henrique Carsodo

• Rio de Janeiro native
• Son of an Army officer
• Spent much of the military regime in exile

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Presidential Election of 1998

• Again Fernando Henrique Cardoso
• One Round Only
• Luis Inacio Lula de Silva 32
• Cardoso 53
• Winning coalition
• Social Democrats (PSDB)
• Liberal Front (PFL) party of Jose Sarney
• Labor Party (PTB) party of Ivette Vargas

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1998 Election Results
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The Presidency and the Congress

• Formal powers among the most sweeping in Latin
  America
• Veto legislation (wholly or in part)
• Can initiate legislation including public
  spending
• Can force congress to take up legislation deemed
  urgent
• Multi-party system forces president to build
  coalitions

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Legislative Branch Institutions Structures

• Lower house, the Chamber of Deputies, comprises
  513 representatives from 26 states and the
  Federal District
• Size of each states delegation is determined in
  proportion to its population.
• Constitution establishes a minimum of eight and a
  maximum of seventy deputies for each state.
• These limits under-represents residents of the
  densely populated southeastern and southern
  states.
• Congress no longer a rubber stamp.
• Parliamentary Commissions of Inquiry (CPIs)

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Institutions Structures The Judiciary I

• Comprised of the Supreme Court, the Superior
  Court, five regional federal appeals courts,
  labor courts, electoral courts, military courts,
  and state courts.
• Constitution stipulates criteria for
• Entry into judicial service competitive exam
• Promotion by seniority and merit
• Mandatory retirement age of 70 or after 30
  years of service
• Eleven justices, or ministers, are named by the
  president to the Supreme (constitutional Court, -
  Supremo Tribunal Federal (STP) and approved by
  the Senate, as are thirty-three ministers to the
  Superior (Civil) Court.
• Tribunal Superior Eleitoral

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Institutions Structures The Judiciary II

• Labor Courts created by the Consolidated Labor
  Code of 1943
• Military justice system also retained in the 1988
  Constitution
• Courts stronger today than every before
• Overloaded docket
• Lower courts decisions are not binding or final,
  cases are appealed repeatedly until they finally
  reach the STF.
• Direct action of unconstitutionality (ADIN)

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Constitutional Limitations on Government
Authority I

• Extends the traditional guarantees of individual
  rights to social groups
• Prohibits discrimination against minorities
• Grants parties, unions, and civic associations
  legal recourse against the actions of other
  social actors and permits them to challenge
  before the Supreme Court the constitutionality of
  legislation and administrative rulings.

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Constitutional Limitations on Government Authority

• Presidential limits when invoking a state of
  siege
• Judicial review
• Ministerio Publico (Public Prosecution)
• Tribunal de Contas