Fifteen political parties are represented in Congress. Since it is common for politicians to switch parties, the proportion of congressional seats held by particular parties changes regularly. The following are the major political parties:
Principal Government Officials
Country name:
conventional long form:
Federative Republic of Brazil
conventional short form:
Brazil
local long form:
República Federativa do Brasil
local short form:
Brasil
Data code: BR
Government type: federative republic
Capital: Brasilia
Administrative divisions: 26 states (estados, singular - estado) and 1 federal district* (distrito federal); Acre, Alagoas, Amapa, Amazonas, Bahia, Ceará, Distrito Federal*, Espírito Santo, Goiás, Maranhão, Mato Grosso, Mato Grosso do Sul, Minas Gerais, Pará, Paraiba, Paraná, Pernambuco, Piaui, Rio de Janeiro, Rio Grande do Norte, Rio Grande do Sul, Rondonia, Roraima, Santa Catarina, São Paulo, Sergipe, Tocantins
Independence: 7 September 1822 (from Portugal)
National holiday: Independence Day, 7 September (1822)
Constitution: 5 October 1988
Legal system: based on Roman codes; has not accepted compulsory ICJ jurisdiction
Suffrage: voluntary between 16 and 18 years of age and over 70; compulsory over 18 and under 70 years of age. President, State governors and Mayors are elected in 2 turns. First 2 candidates of the first turn go for second. Senate is elected in 1 turn, winner takes all. Deputys are elected by proportional elections, but with no list.
Executive branch:
chief of state:
Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva(since 1 January 2003); Vice President José Alencar Gomes da Silva (since 1 January 2003); note - the president is both the chief of state and head of government
head of government:
Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva(since 1 January 2003); Vice President José Alencar Gomes da Silva (since 1 January 2003); note - the president is both the chief of state and head of government
cabinet:
Cabinet appointed by the president
elections:
president and vice president elected on the same ticket by popular vote for four-year terms; election last held October 2003(next to be held October 2007)
election results:
Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva reelected president; percent of vote - 61,2%
Legislative branch:
bicameral National Congress or Congresso Nacional consists of the Federal Senate or Senado Federal (81 seats; three members from each state or federal district elected according to the principle of majority to serve eight-year terms; one-third elected after a four year period, two-thirds elected after the next four-year period) and the Chamber of Deputies or Camara dos Deputados (513 seats; members are elected by proportional representation to serve four-year terms)
elections: (Please get new data!)
Federal Senate - last held October 2002 for one-third of Senate (next to be held NA October 2002 for two-thirds of the Senate); Chamber of Deputies - last held 4 October 1998 (next to be held October 2007)
election results:
Federal Senate - percent of vote by party - NA%; seats by party - PMDB 27, PFL 20, PSDB 16, PT 7, PPB 5, PSB 3, PDT 2, PPS 1; Chamber of Deputies - percent of vote by party - NA%; seats by party - PFL 106, PSDB 99, PMDB 82, PPB 60, PT 58, PTB 31, PDT 25, PSB 19, PL 12, PCdoB 7, other 14
Judicial branch: Supreme Federal Tribunal, 11 judges are appointed for life by the president and confirmed by the Senate
Political parties and leaders: Brazilian Democratic Movement Party or PMDB [Jader BARBALHO, president]; Brazilian Labor Party or PTB [Jose Carlos MARTINEZ, president]; Brazilian Social Democracy Party or PSDB [Teotônio VILLELA Filho, president]; Brazilian Socialist Party or PSB [Miguel ARRAES, president]; Brazilian Progressive Party or PPB [Paulo MALUF, president]; Communist Party of Brazil or PCdoB [Renato RABELO, president]; Democratic Labor Party or PDT [Leonel BRIZOLA, president]; Liberal Front Party or PFL [Jorge BORNHAUSEN, president]; Liberal Party or PL [Valdemar COSTA Neto, president]; Popular Socialist Party or PPS [Roberto FREIRE, president]; Worker's Party or PT [Jose GENOÍNO, president]
Political pressure groups and leaders: left wing of the Catholic Church, Landless Worker's Movement, and labor unions pressure the government for more intense reforms on taxation and land property, while rightist PFL and PSDB are critical of government's social and economic policies.
International organization participation: AfDB, BIS, CCC, ECLAC, FAO, G-11, G-15, G-19, G-24, G-77, IADB, IAEA, IBRD, ICAO, ICC, ICC, ICFTU, ICRM, IDA, IFAD, IFC, IFRCS, IHO, ILO, IMF, IMO, Inmarsat, Intelsat, Interpol, IOC, IOM (observer), ISO, ITU, LAES, LAIA, Mercosur, NAM (observer), NSG, OAS, OPANAL, OPCW, PCA, RG, UN, UNCTAD, UNESCO, UNHCR, UNIDO, UNMOP, UNTAET, UNU, UPU, WCL, WFTU, WHO, WIPO, WMO, WToO, WTrO
Flag description: green with a large yellow diamond in the center bearing a blue celestial globe with 27 white five-pointed stars (one for each state and the Federal District) arranged in the same pattern as the night sky over Brazil; the globe has a white equatorial band with the motto ORDEM E PROGRESSO (Order and Progress)
See also : Brazil, café com leite, coronelismo, history of Brazil, Integralism