General Information
At stake in this election:
- 513 seats in Brazil’s Chamber of Deputies (Camara dos Deputados)
Description of government structure:
- Chief of State: President Dilma ROUSSEFF (since 1 January 2011)*
- Head of Government: President Dilma ROUSSEFF (since 1 January 2011)[i]
- Assembly: Brazil has a bicameral National Congress (Congresso Nacional) consisting of the Federal Senate (Senado Federal) with 81 seats and the Chamber of Deputies (Camara dos Deputados) with 513 seats.
* The president is both the chief of state and head of government.
Description of electoral system:
- The President is elected by absolute majority vote through a two-round system to serve a 4-year term.
- In the Federal Senate (Senado Federal) 81 members are elected by plurality vote in multi-member constituencies to serve 8-year terms.** In the Chamber of Deputies (Camara dos Deputados) 513 members are elected through an open-list proportional representation system to serve 4-year terms.***
** There are 27 multi-member (3 seats) constituencies corresponding to the country's 26 states and the Federal District. One-third of the senators (27 seats) are elected after a four-year period, and two-thirds (54 seats) are elected after the next four-year period. When two-thirds of the seats are to be renewed, each elector votes for two candidates. When one-third is to be renewed, each elector votes for one candidate.
*** There are 27 multi-member constituencies with district magnitude ranging from 8 to 70 seats, based on population.
Election Note:
On Sunday 5 October 2014, Brazil will hold elections for both chambers in the bicameral parliament: The Chamber of Deputies (Camara dos Deputados) and the Federal Senate (Senado Federal).[ii]
Main parties in the electoral race:
- Party: Party of the Brazilian Democratic Movement / Partido do Movimento Democrático Brasileiro (PMDB)
- Leader: Valdir RAUPP
- Seats won in last election: 16
- Party: Democrats / Democratas*
- Leader: Jose Agripino MAIA
- Seats won in last election: 2
- Party: Brazilian Social Democracy Party / Partido da Social Democracia Brasileira (PSDB)
- Leader: Aecio NEVES
- Seats won in last election: 5
- Party: Workers' Party / Partido dos Trabalhadores (PT)
- Leader: Rui FALCAO
- Seats won in last election: 11
- Party: Socialism and Freedom Party / Partido Socialismo e Liberdade (PSOL)
- Leader: Ivan VALENTE
- Seats won in last election: 2
- Party: Brazilian Socialist Party / Partido Socialista Brasileiro (PSB)
- Leader: Eduardo CAMPOS**
- Seats won in last election: 3
- Party: Green Party / Partido Verde (PV)
- Leader: José Luiz de França PENNA
- Seats won in last election: N/A
- Party: Progressive Party / Partido Progressista (PP)
- Leader: Francisco DORNELLES
- Seats won in last election: 4
- Party: Democratic Labour Party / Partido Democrático Trabalhista (PDT)
- Leader: Carlos LUPI
- Seats won in last election: 2
- Party: Republic Party / Partido da República (PR)
- Leader: Sérgio Victor TAMER
- Seats won in last election: 3
- Party: Communist Party of Brazil / Partido Comunista do Brasil (PCDoB)
- Leader: José Renato RABELO
- Seats won in last election: 1
*The Democrats were formally known as the Liberal Front Party/Partido del Frente Liberal (PFL)
**Mr. CAMPOS was killed in a plane crash in August 2014.
Last election:
- The last election to the Chamber of Deputies (Camara dos Deputados) and the Federal Senate (Senado Federal) in Brazil was held on 3 October 2010.[iii] Turnout was 63 percent with 111,038,684 of 135,523,622 people casting ballots.[iv] Results can be found here (Chamber of Deputies) and here (Federal Senate).
Population and number of registered voters:
Gender Data:
- Female Population: 102,664,070 (July 2014 est)[i]
- Is Brazil a signatory to CEDAW: Yes (since 1981)[ii]
- Has Brazil ratified CEDAW: Yes (1 February 1984)[iii]
- Gender Quota: Yes: “Legislative Candidates Quotas” for both the Chamber of Deputies and the Federal Senate[iv]
- Female Candidates in this election: N/A
- Number of Female Legislators: 44 (9%) of 513 seats in the Chamber of Deputies (2010) and 13 (16%) of 81 seats in the Federal Senate[v]
- Human Development Index (HDI) Position: 79[vi]
- Social Institutions and Gender Index (SIGI) Ranking: 8th out of 86 non-OECD countries (latest rankings are from 2012)[vii]
[i] https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/br.html
[ii] https://treaties.un.org/Pages/ViewDetails.aspx?src=TREATY&mtdsg_no=IV-8&chapter=4&lang=en
[iii] https://treaties.un.org/Pages/ViewDetails.aspx?src=TREATY&mtdsg_no=IV-8&chapter=4&lang=en
[iv] http://www.quotaproject.org/uid/countryview.cfm?country=30
[v] http://www.quotaproject.org/uid/countryview.cfm?country=30
[vi] http://www.undp.org/content/undp/en/home/librarypage/hdr/2014-human-development-report/
[vii] http://genderindex.org/ranking
[i] https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/br.html
[ii] http://www.electionguide.org/elections/upcoming/
[iii] http://www.electionguide.org/elections/id/991/
[iv] http://www.electionguide.org/elections/id/991/
[v] https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/br.html
[vi] http://www.electionguide.org/elections/id/991/
[vii] https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/br.html
[viii] https://treaties.un.org/Pages/ViewDetails.aspx?src=TREATY&mtdsg_no=IV-8&chapter=4&lang=en
[ix] https://treaties.un.org/Pages/ViewDetails.aspx?src=TREATY&mtdsg_no=IV-8&chapter=4&lang=en
[x] http://www.quotaproject.org/uid/countryview.cfm?country=30
[xi] http://www.quotaproject.org/uid/countryview.cfm?country=30
[xii] http://www.undp.org/content/undp/en/home/librarypage/hdr/2014-human-development-report/
[xiii] http://genderindex.org/ranking