During election hours, one type of candidacy has drawn attention. For the first time in history, there are inserts with the mention of groups or collective of supporters next to the name of the candidate for deputy or senator. The practice has existed for years, but these are the first elections in which the collective mandate can appear in the campaign, according to a resolution approved by the Superior Electoral Court (TSE) in December last year.
The collective mandate registered a record number of candidates this year: 213, according to TSE statistics. Of this total, 64% are for state or district deputies, 34% for federal deputies and 2% for the Senate. But the sport continues to operate informally in the country, without official regulation.
In theory, the collective mandate consists of the division of a parliamentary mandate among several people, without hierarchy and with decisions taking place in collegiate. Despite last year’s resolution, the candidacy continues to be registered in the name of a single person.
If elected, only the head of the ticket will have the rights of a parliamentarian, such as speaking in parliament and participating in colleges of leaders. Only he will be able to vote in the sessions, based on the decisions taken collectively with the co-parliamentarians.
Participation
The first example of the practice was registered in Sweden, in 2002, being exported to several countries in the following decades. For advocates, collective mandates increase society’s involvement in politics, representing the opportunity to include minorities such as blacks, indigenous people and the LGBTQI+ population in decision-making.
Even operating informally, the collective mandate can be regulated through internal agreements. Parliamentarians and fellow parliamentarians sign contracts in a notary’s office or statutes that guide the electoral campaign, the division of salaries and the parliamentary cabinet and the fulfillment of the mandate. In some cases, the contracts provide for the approval of decisions in assemblies.
“The so-called collective candidacy represents only a candidacy promotion format, which allows the candidate to highlight his or her engagement in a social movement or in a collective”, said former TSE president Minister Edson Fachin when voting in favor of the resolution that authorized the mention of collective plates in this year’s campaign.
Despite voting in favour, Fachin highlighted that the registration of the candidacy remains individual and that the Brazilian electoral legislation does not have any provision on the collective mandate. Minister Carlos Horbach had the same understanding. According to him, the lack of practice from a legal point of view does not prevent the promotion of candidacies.
proposals
Currently, there are at least two proposals to regulate collective mandates in Congress. In 2017, licensed deputy Renata Abreu (Podemos-SP) presented a proposal for an amendment to the Constitution that inserts the collective mandate for the municipal, state, district (in the case of the Federal District) and national Legislative Powers.
In 2020, deputy André Figueiredo (PDT-CE) presented a bill to make official the figure of co-parliamentary members, who would have rights similar to those of the head of the ticket. Both proposals are stalled in the National Congress.
