The National Congress is the legislative body of Brazil's federal government. Unlike the state legislative assemblies and municipal chambers, the Congress is bicameral, composed of the Federal Senate and the Chamber of Deputies. The Congress meets annually in Brasília from 2 February to 22 December, with a mid-term break taking place between 17 July and 1 August.
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 Prime Minister, called President of the Council of Ministers, was effectively the de facto head of government, 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. There was also a fourth power, the Moderating power, exercised by the emperor. The Empire of Brazil was divided into 20 provinces and the Neutral Municipality, capital of the country.
During its independent political history, Brazil has had seven constitutions. The most recent was ratified on October 5, 1988.
Brazil elects on the national level a head of state—the president—and a legislature. The president is elected to a four-year term by absolute majority vote through a two-round system. The National Congress has two chambers. The Chamber of Deputies has 513 members, elected to a four-year term by proportional representation. The Federal Senate has 81 members, elected to an eight-year term, with elections every four years for alternatively one-third and two-thirds of the seats. Brazil has a multi-party system, with such numerous parties that often no one party has a chance of gaining power alone, and so they must work with each other to form coalition governments.
The Federal Senate is the upper house of the National Congress of Brazil. When created under the Imperial Constitution in 1824, it was based on the House of Lords of the British Parliament, but since the Proclamation of the Republic in 1889 and under the first republican Constitution the Federal Senate has resembled the United States Senate.
The president of the Federal Senate, sometimes referred to as the President of the Senate, is the presiding officer of the Federal Senate of Brazil.
The Political Constitution of the Empire of Brazil commonly referred to as the Constitution of 1824, was Brazil's first constitution, issued on 25 March 1824 and revoked on 24 February 1891. In force during the period of the Empire of Brazil, it was issued at the emperor's request, that is, unilaterally imposed by the will of emperor Pedro I, who had ordered it from the Council of State. Pedro had dissolved the Constituent Assembly in 1823 and, through the Constitution of 1824, imposed his own political project on the country. The same Pedro later issued, in Portugal, the Constitutional Charter of 29 April 1826, inspired by the Brazilian model.
Diogo Antônio Feijó was a Brazilian politician and Catholic priest. He was the regent of the Empire of Brazil from October 1835 to September 1837. Aside from members of the Imperial family, he was the first to ever hold this position alone; the other was his appointed successor after his resignation, the Marquis of Olinda. Both were regents at the time Emperor Pedro II was still a minor.
Brazilian Civil Rights Framework for the Internet is the law that governs the use of the Internet in Brazil and sets out guidelines for state action and rights and duties for users and operators.
The 2017 labor reform in Brazil was a significant change in the country's Consolidation of Labor Laws. According to the government, the goal of the reform was to combat unemployment and the still ongoing 2014 Brazilian economic crisis.
The 56th Legislature of National Congress was a meeting of the legislative branch of the Federal Government of Brazil, composed by the Federal Senate and the Chamber of Deputies. It convened in Brasília on 1 February 2019, a month after the beginning of Jair Bolsonaro's only term as president, and ended on 31 January 2023.
The homicide at the Brazilian Federal Senate was a historic event that happened in December 4, 1963 inside the Brazilian Federal Senate, at Brasília. The event is characterized by a murder carried out by senator Arnon de Melo (PDC-AL), who tried to shoot senator Silvestre Péricles (PSD-AL) and ended up hitting and killing the substitute Senator José Kairala (PSD-AC).
The 2022 Paraná state election took place in the state of Paraná, Brazil on 2 October 2022. Voters elected a Governor, Vice Governor, one Senator, 30 representatives for the Chamber of Deputies, and 54 Legislative Assembly members. The incumbent Governor, Ratinho Júnior, of the Social Democratic Party (PSD), was reelected in the first round with 69.64% of the votes.
The regency period is how the decade from 1831 to 1840 became known in the history of the Empire of Brazil, between the abdication of Emperor Pedro I, on 7 April 1831, and the declaration of age of Pedro II, who was legally declared of age by the Senate at the age of 14 on 23 July 1840.
José Clemente Pereira, known as José Pequeno, was a Portuguese-born Brazilian magistrate and politician who fought in the Peninsular War and of high relevance to the Empire of Brazil, in addition to having been an active member in the Masonic Order.
The so-called Saraiva Law, officially Decree No. 3,029 of 9 January 1881, was the law that reformed the electoral system in the Empire of Brazil, instituting, for the first time, the elector registration in the country, and the direct elections for all elective positions: senators, deputies to the General Assembly, members of the Provincial Legislative Assemblies, municipal councilors and justices of the peace, but prohibited the illiterate to vote, which significantly reduced the number of people eligible to vote as most of the country's population was illiterate.
Francisco Jê Acaiaba de Montezuma, first and only Viscount of Jequitinhonha, born Francisco Gomes Brandão, was a Brazilian jurist, diplomat and politician. He was a senator for the province of Bahia from 1851 to 1870, commanded two ministries during the regency of Diogo Antônio Feijó and was president of the Bank of Brazil.
The 57th Legislature of National Congress is the current meeting of the legislative branch of the Federal Government of Brazil, composed by the Federal Senate and the Chamber of Deputies. It convened in Brasília on 1 February 2023, a month after the inauguration of the winner of the 2022 presidential election.
The electoral system of Brazil is the set of means used to choose representatives and government members of the Federative Republic of Brazil. The current system is defined by the 1988 Constitution and the Electoral Code, in addition to being regulated by the Superior Electoral Court as delegated by law. The Constitution itself already defines three distinct electoral systems, which are detailed in the Electoral Code: proportional elections for the Chamber of Deputies, mirrored in the legislative powers at the state and municipal levels, majority elections with one or two elected representatives to the Federal Senate and majority elections in two rounds for president and other executive heads in other spheres.
The Brazilian Constituent Assembly of 1823 was the first constituent assembly of Brazil, installed on 3 May 1823, under the presidency of the Major Chaplain Bishop, José Caetano da Silva Coutinho. The Assembly was tasked with drafting Brazil's first constitution. However, its activities ended with its dissolution by the police forces of emperor Pedro I of Brazil in the early hours of 12 November 1823, an episode known as the Night of Agony.
