The National Congress will have a busy day on Saturday (1st), when those who will command Chamber of Deputies and Federal Senate will be chosen in the next two years. The composition of the directors of the two legislative houses will also be defined.
The forecast is that, in the Senate, the election starts at 10am and, in the House, at 16h. The mandate of the elected will be valid for the 2025-2026 biennium. In addition to electing their president, the senators will choose two vice presidents and eight secretaries (four holders and four alternates).
The first step towards the choice of the Senate President will be taken at a preparatory meeting in which the applicants for the position formalize, in writing, the candidacy at the General Secretariat of the Bureau.
Following, the current president of the Senate, Rodrigo Pacheco (PSD-MG), communicates the formalized applications to the plenary. Then, in alphabetical order, the candidates discourage and present their proposals.
According to the rules of the house, resignations of candidates may occur during the stipulated period for the speeches. Only candidates for the presidency of the Senate speak.
After the speeches, the vote begins, which is secret, in cabins and in banknotes containing the names of the candidates, as well as rubric of the current president and vice president of the Senate. The vote is then deposited in a ballot box installed on the table and, finally, the parliamentarian signs the voting list.
It will be up to the current president and auxiliaries to investigate, started with confirmation of the number of banknotes, and then counting votes for each candidate. After counting, the votes will be crushed. The candidate who obtains the absolute majority of the votes overcomes.
Candidates
Until the closure of this report, four senators were in the race to occupy the presidency of the House in Biennium 2025-2026: David Alcolumbre (União Brasil-AP), Marcos Pontes (PL-SP), Marcos do Val (Somos) and Eduardo Girão (New-CE).
The new president will take office shortly after the announcement of his victory, finalizing the first preparatory meeting and starting the convening of the second meeting, scheduled for 11am. At this meeting, the other members of the Bureau (two vice-presidents, four secretaries and four alternate secretaries will be formalized and chosen in this meeting.
In the case of positions where there is only one registered candidate, the vote will be electronic.
For the election of the table members, the majority of votes and the presence of most senators are required. “The proportional participation of party representations or parliamentary blocks with acting in the house should be ensured, as much as possible, informs the Senate.
Chamber
On a day of the election of the Board of Directors of the House of Representatives, three candidates had made the intention of running for the presidency of the House: Hugo Motta (Republicans-PB), Pastor Henrique Vieira (PSOL-RJ) and Marcel Van Hattem (Novo-RS ).
The deadline for formalization of applications ends at 1:30 pm this Saturday. For the formalization of parliamentary blocks, the deadline runs until 9am on the same day. Two hours later, at 11am, a meeting of leaders is scheduled to choose from the board members.
The inauguration of the new legislative session will be in a joint session of the National Congress, scheduled for 15h. Already the first preparatory session, in which the new president will be elected, will be in the plenary and should start at 16h.
As in the Senate, in the House, the winner will need to obtain absolute majority of the votes (257) to be elected in the first round. If there is a need for a second round, it will be enough for the candidate to be the most voted to finally define who will occupy the chair of the presidency for the next two years.
Parties may form blocks if they wish to increase their representativeness and participation in the distribution of committees and board of directors. The mandate will last four years for the commissions and two years for the Board of Directors.
*With information from the House and Senate news agencies
