Brazilian constitutional referendum, 1993

Last updated

The 1993 Brazilian constitutional referendum was held on April 21, 1993 to determine the form of government of the country. [1] After the re-democratization of Brazil, an article in the new Constitution determined the holding of a referendum for voters to decide if the country should have a republican or a monarchical form of Government, and if the system of Government should be that of a presidential Executive or that of parliamentary government.

Constitution of Brazil

The Constitution of the Federative Republic of Brazil is the supreme law of Brazil. It is the foundation and source of the legal authority underlying the existence of Brazil and the federal government of Brazil. It provides the framework for the organization of the Brazilian government and for the relationship of the federal government to the states, to citizens, and to all people within Brazil.

A republic is a form of government in which the country is considered a “public matter”, not the private concern or property of the rulers. The primary positions of power within a republic are not inherited, but are attained through democracy, oligarchy or autocracy. It is a form of government under which the head of state is not a monarch.

Monarchy system of government where the head of state position is inherited within family

A monarchy is a form of government in which a group, generally a group of people comprising a dynasty, embodies the country's national identity and its head, the monarch, exercises the role of sovereign. The power of the monarch may vary from purely symbolic, to partial and restricted, to completely autocratic. In most cases the monarch's position is inherited and lasts until death or abdication. In contrast, elective monarchies require the monarch to be elected. Both types have further variations as there are widely divergent structures and traditions defining monarchy. For example, in some elected monarchies family history is the only criterion for eligibility to be monarch, whereas many hereditary monarchies impose requirements regarding the religion, age, gender, or mental capacity. Occasionally this can result in more than one rival claimants, whose legitimacy is subject to election. There have been cases where the term of a monarch's reign either is fixed in years or continues until certain conditions are satisfied: an invasion being repulsed, for instance.

Contents

The Constitution further specified that Congress, sitting in joint session, would be empowered to effect a revision of the Constitution in 1994 by a mere absolute majority, instead of the qualified majority procedure with separate votes in both Houses of Congress that is usually required for constitutional amendments; any change in the constitutional regime of Government decided during the referendum would be adopted during the said constitutional revision.

Federal Law n° 8.624, signed into law by President Itamar Franco on February 4, 1993, regulated the holding of the referendum. [2]

Itamar Franco Brazilian politician

Itamar Augusto Cautiero Franco was a Brazilian politician who served as the 33rd President of Brazil from December 29, 1992 to December 31, 1994. Previously he was Vice President of Brazil from 1990 until the resignation of President Fernando Collor de Mello. During his long political career Franco also served as Senator, Mayor, Ambassador and Governor. At the time of his death he was a Senator from Minas Gerais, having won the seat in the 2010 election.

An overwhelming majority of voters favoured the republican regime and the presidential system, as the country had been ruled for 104 years since the Proclamation of the Republic on November 15, 1889 – apart from a brief parliamentarian experience between 1961 and 1963, [3] which had also been defeated in a referendum. In spite of heavy campaigning on TV and radio, turnout was relatively small (74.3%), considering that voting is compulsory in the country.

Voter turnout percentage of eligible voters who cast a ballot in an election

Voter turnout is the percentage of eligible voters who cast a ballot in an election. Eligibility varies by country, and the voting-eligible population should not be confused with the total adult population. Age and citizenship status are often among the criteria used to determine eligibility, but some countries further restrict eligibility based on sex, race, or religion.

Compulsory voting requires citizens to register to vote and to go to their polling place or vote on election day

Compulsory voting is an effect of laws which require eligible citizens to register and vote in elections, and may impose penalties on those who fail to do so. As of August 2013, 22 countries provide for compulsory voting, and 11 democracies — about 5% of all United Nations members — enforce it.

Origin

The attempted resurrection of the imperial regime came from federal deputy Antônio Henrique Bittencourt da Cunha Bueno (from São Paulo's Social Democratic Party), a member of the Constituent Assembly which approved the Constitution which put an end to the military regime. [1] A monarchist since a child, and son of Antônio Sílvio Cunha Bueno, one of SDP's founders in São Paulo, he decided to propose to his fellow deputies the hold of a referendum to give the people the possibility to choose the form of government they preferred. [1] His main argument was that during the reign of Pedro II, Brazil had experienced a period of great stability. [1] Surprisingly, his proposal was included in the new Constitution. [1] Bueno managed to convince the Constituent Assembly that, since the Republic had been proclaimed in Brazil by means of a military coup d'état in 1889, without any say of the people, the Brazilian Nation should be given the chance of deciding the form of Government of their choice. Given that, when the Constitution was approved in 1988, the country was in a process of returning to democracy after a long military regime, the idea of giving the people the opportunity to decide their form of Government (either choosing the restoration of the Monarchy or opting for the Republic, an option that would give popular legitimacy to a form of Government that had been first imposed in a military coup) gained wide support in the Constituent Assembly. Also, several members of the Assembly were in favour of a parliamentary republic (the original drafts of the Constitution provided for a parliamentary system of Government within a republic, but a vote by the Assembly altered the draft so as to preserve the presidential Executive); those members of the Assembly who favored a parliamentary model and who had been defeated in the system of Government vote then supported the proposal that led to the inclusion in the Constitution of the provision summoning the referendum. The supporters of a parliamentary republic, who desired only a referendum on the system of Government (parliamentary or presidential) voted in favour of Bueno's proposal for a question also dealing with the form of Government (monarchy or republic), because they reckoned that all monarchists would also vote for a parliamentary model in the system of government question.

Empire of Brazil 19th-century empire in South America

The Empire of Brazil was a 19th-century state that broadly comprised the territories which form modern Brazil and Uruguay. Its government was a representative parliamentary constitutional monarchy under the rule of Emperors Dom Pedro I and his son Dom Pedro II. A colony of the Kingdom of Portugal, Brazil became the seat of the Portuguese colonial Empire in 1808, when the Portuguese Prince regent, later King Dom João VI, fled from Napoleon's invasion of Portugal and established himself and his government in the Brazilian city of Rio de Janeiro. João VI later returned to Portugal, leaving his eldest son and heir, Pedro, to rule the Kingdom of Brazil as regent. On 7 September 1822, Pedro declared the independence of Brazil and, after waging a successful war against his father's kingdom, was acclaimed on 12 October as Pedro I, the first Emperor of Brazil. The new country was huge but sparsely populated and ethnically diverse.

São Paulo (state) State of Brazil

São Paulo is one of the 26 states of the Federative Republic of Brazil and is named after Saint Paul of Tarsus. As the richest Brazilian state and a major industrial complex, often dubbed the "locomotive of Brazil", the state is responsible for 33.9% of the Brazilian GDP. São Paulo also has the second highest Human Development Index (HDI) and GDP per capita, the fourth lowest infant mortality rate, the third highest life expectancy, and the third lowest rate of illiteracy among the federative units of Brazil, being by far, the safest state in the country. The homicide rate is 3.8 per 100 thousand as of 2018, almost 1/4 of the Brazilian rate. São Paulo alone is richer than Argentina, Uruguay, Paraguay and Bolivia combined. If São Paulo were an independent country, its nominal GDP would be ranked among the top 20 in the world. The economy of São Paulo State is the most developed in Brazil.

On May 1992, Bueno launched the Parliamentary Monarchist Movement alongside Pedro Gastão of Orléans-Braganza, then head of the Petrópolis branch of the Brazilian Imperial Family and one of the two claimants to the defunct Brazilian throne. [1] According to him, only petistas were able to rival the monarchist militancy. [1] On February 4, 1993, President Itamar Franco signed into law the bill N° 8.624, which regulated the holding of the referendum. [2]

Prince Pedro Gastão of Orléans-Braganza was one of two claimants to the Brazilian throne and head of the Petrópolis branch of the Brazilian Imperial House.

The Brazilian monarchy came to an end on November 15, 1889, following a military coup which overthrew Emperor Dom Pedro II and established a republic. According to the Imperial Constitution (1824), the Brazilian monarchy was hereditary according to male-preference primogeniture among the dynastic descendants of Emperor Pedro I of Brazil, and the crown could only be inherited by one who held Brazilian nationality. The Imperial constitution also states that the Emperor and his heir presumptive should be Catholic, and the marriage of the princess heir presumptive required consent of the Emperor or the Assembly.

Workers Party (Brazil) Brazilian political party

The Workers' Party is a democratic socialist political party in Brazil. Launched in 1980, it is one of the largest movements of Latin America. PT governed at the federal level in a coalition government with several other parties from 1 January 2003 to 31 August 2016. After the 2002 parliamentary election, PT became the largest party in the Chamber of Deputies and the largest in the Federal Senate for the first time ever. With the highest approval rating in the history of the country, President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva is PT's most prominent member. His successor Dilma Rousseff, also a member of PT, took office on 1 January 2011.

Campaign

According to some polling institutes, the monarchist campaign was able to obtain the support of 22% of the voters in 1992. Concerned about this, the main political parties at that time, such as PT, PFL, PMDB and PTB formed the so-called Presidential Front on one side and the Parliamentary Front (PSDB) at the other side in order to oppose the ambitions of royalist groups. In spite of the defeat obtained by the monarchist movement, their slogan Vote for the king (Portuguese : Vote no rei!) became one of the most well known in the history of Brazilian electoral campaigns, and 13.4% of the voters supported a monarchical regime.

The Democrats is a political party in Brazil. It was founded in 1985 under the name of Liberal Front Party from a dissidence of the defunct PDS, successor to the ARENA, the official party during the military dictatorship of 1964–1985. It changed to its current name in 2007. The original name reflected the party's support of free market policies, rather than the identification with international liberal parties. Instead, the party affiliated itself to the international federations of Christian democratic (CDI) and conservative parties (IDU). The Democrats' identification number is 25 and its colors are green, blue, and white.

Brazilian Labour Party (current) political party

The Brazilian Labour Party is a political party in Brazil founded in 1981 by Ivete Vargas, niece of President Getúlio Vargas. It claims the legacy of the historical PTB, although many historians reject this because the early version of PTB was a center-left party with wide support in the working class. Despite the name suggesting a left unionist labor party, the PTB joined a coalition which is by the centre/centre-right PSDB.

A royalist supports a particular monarch as head of state for a particular kingdom, or of a particular dynastic claim. In the abstract, this position is royalism. It is distinct from monarchism, which advocates a monarchical system of government, but not necessarily a particular monarch. Most often, the term royalist is applied to a supporter of a current regime or one that has been recently overthrown to form a republic.

Results

Valid votes

Monarchical regime:
6,843,196(13.4%)		Republican regime:
44,266,608(86.6%)
▲
Parliamentary system:
16,518,028(30.8%)		Presidential system:
37,156,884(69.2%)
▲

Total votes

State results

StateElectorateAbstention%Monarchy%Republic%Null votes%Blank votes%
Acre 237,001102,19143.1%11,29211.1%90,52088.9%14,37610.6%18,62213.8%
Alagoas 1,041,236325,35231.2%64,32613.4%414,74786.6%142,35019.8%94,46113.2%
Amapá 169,40973,83243.6%8,83810.8%72,74390.2%5,5545.8%8,4428.8%
Amazonas 1,012,167470,40646.5%63,57513.9%394,42786.1%33,2076.1%50,5529.3%
Bahia 6,701,2683,052,93048.5%247,4549.4%2,371,85990.6%494,34713.5%534,67814.6%
Ceará 3,809,4571,332,95935.0%212,74811.4%1,655,96588.6%295,06211.9%312,72312.6%
Espírito Santo 1,618,431382,08123.7%134,39814.8%773,66785.2%188,41710.8%139,86811.3%
Federal District 908,429144,50715.9%69,55211.2%550,28588.8%94,66712.4%49,4186.4%
Goiás 2,514,553766,84630.4%174,93713.0%1,171,34187.0%215,62312.3%185,80610.6%
Maranhão 2,590,5981,518,66958.6%63,0947.3%799,73992.7%85,1817.9%123,91511.5%
Mato Grosso 1,196,767480,48140.2%75,68913.7%477,50686.3%73,41110.2%89,68012.5%
Mato Grosso do Sul 1,127,470288,83825.6%92,45614.2%559,89085.8%96,56911.5%89,71710.7%
Minas Gerais 10,116,4282,258,63922.3%731,71412.8%4,993,71287.2%1,200,91815.3%931,44511.8%
Pará 2,616,4901,260,55848.2%153,89814.3%922,94185.7%113,0018.3%166,09212.2%
Paraíba 1,986,739660,65533.2%82,8768.7%866,19191.3%201,17515.2%175,84213.3%
Paraná 5,495,9471,189,89221.7%420,27612.8%2,855,86287.2%611,04814.2%418,8699.7%
Pernambuco 4,247,2051,357,51332.0%222,02011.1%1,787,30288.9%481,35716.6%399,01313.8%
Piauí 1,857,832613,60433.0%48,0594.8%951,77495.2%103,1918.3%141,20411.3%
Rio de Janeiro 8,732,0241,541,65417.6%938,96416.3%4,821,31083.7%842,97711.7%587,1198.2%
Rio Grande do Norte 1,417,805441,84831.2%58,9368.7%620,41891.3%170,26617.4%126,33712.9%
Rio Grande do Sul 6,069,273941,18515.6%372,4698.8%3,835,72191.1%403,3787.9%516,52010.1%
Rondônia 661,331331,66050.1%37,22614.9%213,09885.1%35,00010.6%44,34713.4%
Roraima 101,94742,46541.7%5,12110.5%43,87289.5%4,0936.8%6,39610.7%
Santa Catarina 2,974,926507,66917.0%272,57714.5%1,611,14985.5%343,17313.9%240,3289.7%
São Paulo 19,812,7052,538,73712.8%2,210,20316.6%11,109,00783.4%2,487,62014.4%1,467,1368.5%
Sergipe 891,788291,99532.7%48,25211.5%372,35088.5%109,41318.2%69,77811.6%
Tocantins 621,900348,57456.1%19,6019.3%191,52490.7%23,4428.6%38,75914.2%

Related Research Articles

The president is a common title for the head of state in most republics. In politics, president is a title given to leaders of republican states.

1946 Italian institutional referendum

An institutional referendum was held in Italy on 2 June 1946, a key event of Italian contemporary history. Until 1946, Italy had been a kingdom ruled by the House of Savoy, kings of Italy since the Risorgimento and previously rulers of Savoy. However, Benito Mussolini imposed fascism after the 28 October 1922 March on Rome, eventually engaging Italy in World War II alongside Nazi Germany. The popular referendum resulted in voters favouring the replacement of the monarchy with a republic. Monarchists had suspicions of fraud, but were never able to prove these. A Constituent Assembly was elected at the same time.

A constituent assembly or constitutional assembly is a body or assembly of popularly elected representatives composed for the purpose of drafting or adopting a constitutional-type document. The constituent assembly is a subset of a constitutional convention elected entirely by popular vote; that is, all constituent assemblies are constitutional conventions, but a constitutional convention is not necessarily a constituent assembly. As the fundamental document constituting a state, a constitution cannot normally be modified or amended by the state's normal legislative procedures; instead a constitutional convention or a constituent assembly, the rules for which are normally laid down in the constitution, must be set up. A constituent assembly is usually set up for its specific purpose, which it carries out in a relatively short time, after which the assembly is dissolved. A constituent assembly is a form of representative democracy.

Constitution of Lithuania

The Constitution of the Republic of Lithuania defines the legal foundation for all laws passed in the Republic of Lithuania. It was approved in a referendum on 25 October 1992.

Politics of the Empire of Brazil took place in a framework of a quasi-federal parliamentary representative democratic monarchy, whereby the Emperor of Brazil was the head of state and nominally head of government although the President of the Council of Ministers was effectively the de facto head, and of a multi-party system. Executive power was exercised by the government. Legislative power was vested in both the government and the two chambers of the General Assembly. The Judiciary was independent of the Executive and the Legislative. The Empire of Brazil was divided into 20 provinces and the Neutral City, capital of the country.

History of the Constitution of Brazil

During its independent political history, Brazil has had seven constitutions. The most recent was ratified on October 5, 1988.

Elections in Benin

Elections in Benin take place within the framework of a multi-party democracy and a presidential system. Both the President and the National Assembly are directly elected by voters, with elections organised by the Autonomous National Electoral Commission (CENA).

1999 Australian republic referendum

The Australian republic referendum held on 6 November 1999 was a two-question referendum to amend the Constitution of Australia. The first question asked whether Australia should become a republic with a President appointed by Parliament following a bi-partisan appointment model which had been approved by a half-elected, half-appointed Constitutional Convention held in Canberra in February 1998. The second question, generally deemed to be far less important politically, asked whether Australia should alter the Constitution to insert a preamble. For some years opinion polls had suggested that a majority of the electorate favoured a republic. Nonetheless, the republic referendum was defeated due to division among republicans on the method proposed for selection of the president and dissident republicans subsequently supporting the no campaign.

Elections in Portugal

Elections in Portugal gives information on election and election results in Portugal.

Constitution of Portugal

The present Constitution of Portugal was adopted in 1976 after the Carnation Revolution. It was preceded by a number of constitutions including ones created in 1822, 1838, 1911, and 1933.

Constituent Assembly of Italy parliamentary chamber tasked with writing a constitution for the Italian Republic

The Italian Constituent Assembly was a parliamentary chamber which existed in Italy from 25 June 1946 until 31 January 1948. It had the task to write a constitution for the Italian Republic, which had replaced the Kingdom of Italy after the Italian civil war.

June 1946 French legislative election election held 2 June 1946

Legislative elections were held in France on 2 June 1946 to elect the second post-war Constituent Assembly designated to prepare a new constitution. The ballot system used was proportional representation.

1945 French legislative election

Legislative elections were held in France on 21 October 1945 to elect a Constituent Assembly to draft a constitution for a Fourth French Republic. 79.83% of voters participated. Women and soldiers were allowed to vote. 522 seats were elected through proportional representation.

Speaker of the Hellenic Parliament

The Speaker, properly the President of the Hellenic Parliament. The president's term coincides with the term of the assembly, and he or she is chosen by a vote during the opening session, after each legislative election. Following is a list of Speakers of the Hellenic Parliament or other national legislative bodies such as the Greek Senate, from the time of the Greek War of Independence till present. The official order of precedence ranks the Speaker of the Hellenic Parliament in the 3rd position, after the President of the Republic and the Prime Minister.

Constitution of Niger

The Republic of Niger has had seven constitutions, two substantial constitutional revisions, and two periods of rule by decree since its independence from French colonial rule in 1960. The current "Seventh Republic" operates under the Constitution of 2010.

A referendum is a direct vote in which an entire electorate is asked to either accept or reject a particular proposal. This article summarises referendum laws and practice in various countries.

1993 in Brazil Brazil-related events during the year of 1993

Events in the year 1993 in Brazil.

Monarchism in Brazil

The movement for the re-adoption of monarchy in Brazil has taken place as a series of uprisings and political acts, usually in a fragmented way and peripherally to larger causes. It has been important historically and remains an active movement to this day. It advocates restoration of the constitutional monarchy under the House of Orléans-Braganza, a cadet branch of the House of Braganza, which ruled Brazil for 77 years until the monarchy was abolished in 1889 by a military coup d'état.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 (in Portuguese) Nunes, Branca. "Entre o parlamentarismo e a monarquia, o Brasil resolveu continuar presidencialista" Archived June 15, 2011, at the Wayback Machine .. Blog Caça ao Voto. Veja . October 15, 2010.
  2. 1 2 (in Portuguese) Presidency of the Republic - Law N° 8624, 4 February 1993.
  3. ↑ (in Portuguese) Agência Senado. "Presidencialismo nasceu com a República e foi confirmado por plebiscito em 1993". Federal Senate. August 13, 2010.
  4. 1 2 (in Portuguese) Results at the Brazilian Institute for Monarchy Studies of Rio Grande do Sul Archived December 10, 2010, at the Wayback Machine .. Source: Supreme Electoral Court.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.