Correspondents' Correspondence Brazil's "Reopening"
BACCHUS, WILFRED A.
Correspondents' Correspondence BRIEF TAKEOUTS OF MORE THAN PERSONAL INTEREST FROM LETTERS AND OTHER COMMUNICATIONS RECEIVED BY THE EDITORS. Brazil's "Reopening" Sao Paulo-for the first time in...
...The PDS has also placed all 23 states on a par for the "electoral college" voting in the indirect election of the next President in 1985...
...This is designed to replace the rather contrived two-party system instituted by the military following the 1964 ouster of the Leftist administration of Joao Goulart...
...At the time of this writing-in the final days before the balloting-most surveys show the PMDB Congressional and gubernatorial entries leading the PDS in the country's three biggest states...
...Tocite the most prominent example, the largest remnant of the old "opposition" party, now known as the Brazilian Democratic Movement Party (PMDB), has grown to its present size by welcoming opposition figures ranging from conservatives to Communists...
...Guanabara State, embracing the PMDB stronghold of greater Rio de Janeiro, was merged into a far more rural and conservative neighboring state...
...Brazilians have always loved competitive contests.-wilfred A. Bacchus...
...The new parties were given little room to maneuver, though...
...Further obvious dodges to skew this month's voting have included increasing the minimum number of seats allowed the least populous states in the Chamber of Deputies (the lower house), and adding a nonelected third Senator to each state...
...Analysts have speculated that if the voters had more coherent choices, the balance would be very different...
...Yet Brazilians have thrown themselves into the contest with energy and zest, as if the elections were a genuinely wide open affair...
...Consequently, many steps were taken to insure a PDS victory, and any postelection claims of a popular mandate are bound to be met with scorn...
...On November 15, slates for every local and national office except the Presidency will be chosen in a process called the Abertura (reopening...
...The regime's basic tactic was to gerrymander electoral boundaries...
...The generals are fearful of having their efforts to control Communism and demagogic practices undermined by a widespread renewal of populism...
...One problem with the new procedure is the number of party vehicles thrown together by those seeking to reenter the political arena...
...Judging from their enthusiastic participation in the lengthy prelude to the elections, many here apparently are optimistic about being on the threshold of real electoral freedom...
...Perhaps they view the restrictions as a challenge...
...and the large interior state of the Mato Grasso was split in two...
...With all the measures it has put in place to protect its position, the government plainly feels secure enough to allow the Abertura...
...Whether out of a fear of popular revolt or a genuine desire for democracy, the regime and its Social Democratic Party <PDS) have been moving toward a loosening of the reins since 1978, when the current President, Joao Figuereido, assumed his post...
...Two Amazonian regional territories, where sentiments strongly favor the PDS, were elevated to statehood...
...Even prodemocracy advocates within the government faced overwhelming pressure from the military hierarchy's hardliners...
...Brazil's "Reopening" Sao Paulo-for the first time in 20 years, Brazilians are engaging in multiparty electioneering...
...Skeptics may well wonder why the opposition parties agreed to compete under the existing circumstances...
...President Figuereido has given his personal assurances that the bitterest critics of the regime who win their contests will be allowed to take office...
...Nonetheless, the Chamber of Deputies is no longer apt to be completely dominated by the ruling party...
...This has resulted in a fragmentation that the government both anticipated and eagerly fostered: Brazil's 53 million eligible voters are being offered an array of avowedly populist parties that lack clearly defined programs or ideologies...
...Correspondents' Correspondence BRIEF TAKEOUTS OF MORE THAN PERSONAL INTEREST FROM LETTERS AND OTHER COMMUNICATIONS RECEIVED BY THE EDITORS...
...Nevertheless, progovernment candidates have a comfortable edge in 13 of the 23 states...
...And although the Abertura clearly has serious weaknesses, in the light of Brazil's recent past it is certainly a significant step forward...
...Other groupings have confusingly similar labels: Workers' Party, Democratic Workers' Party, Workers' Party of Brazil, and (until the PMDB absorbed it) the People's Party...
...The PDS has therefore passed a law requiring a two-thirds majority for the adoption of future amendments to the Constitution, assuring the minority virtual veto power...
Vol. 65 • November 1982 • No. 21
