| Mayor of Rio de Janeiro | |
|---|---|
| Prefeito do Rio de Janeiro | |
 | |
| Term length | Four years, renewable once |
| Inaugural holder | Francisco Antônio Pessoa de Barros |
| Formation | 17 November 1889 |
| Deputy | Vice Mayor |
This is a list of mayors of Rio de Janeiro .
| Mayor of Rio de Janeiro | |
|---|---|
| Prefeito do Rio de Janeiro | |
| | |
| Term length | Four years, renewable once |
| Inaugural holder | Francisco Antônio Pessoa de Barros |
| Formation | 17 November 1889 |
| Deputy | Vice Mayor |
This is a list of mayors of Rio de Janeiro .
| Part of a series on the |
| History of Brazil |
|---|
 |
 Brazilportal |
The city of Rio de Janeiro was founded in 1565. It was the seat of the Crown captaincy of Rio de Janeiro, a district of colonial Brazil under Portuguese rule. In 1763 Rio de Janeiro city became the capital of the colony, then named State of Brazil. In 1815 Brazil became a kingdom within the United Kingdom of Portugal, Brazil and the Algarves; the captaincy of Rio de Janeiro became the province of Rio de Janeiro, within the Kingdom of Brazil, and the city of Rio de Janeiro continued to be the capital of both the Kingdom and the Province. Also, the Portuguese Court had moved to Rio in 1808, so that, even before the creation of the United Kingdom, the city was the de facto capital of the whole Portuguese Empire. In 1821 the Royal Court returned to Portugal, and in 1822 Brazil proclaimed its independence, with the establishment of the Empire of Brazil. The city of Rio de Janeiro was the Empire's capital, and, until 1834, it also remained the capital of the Province of Rio de Janeiro.
Not only in the case of Rio, but for all Brazilian cities, the office of mayor, separate from the city council, only came into existence after Brazil became a Republic in 1889. In the pre-independence era (comprising both the colonial and the United Kingdom periods), the city council discharged both Executive, as well as limited Legislative and Judicial functions. After independence, city councils lost its Judicial powers with the establishment of an independent Judicial Branch distinct from the political Branches of the State, but, during the Empire of Brazil era (1822–1889), city councils remained invested with limited legislative powers (the enactment of municipal postures, in Portuguese posturas municipais), as well as with Executive functions, with no office of mayor.
During the colonial period, the city councils of the major cities, such as Rio, were referred to as the Senado da Câmara. Also, during the pre-independence period, the presiding officer of the most important city councils was a royal magistrate (known as the Juiz de Fora, literally Outside Judge) appointed by the King or by other royal functionaries (colonial governors, etc.), to lead the city council. After the Independence of Brazil, the office of Juiz de Fora was abolished, city councils ceased to have a judicial role; after Independence, in the Empire of Brazil era, all Brazilian city councils were led by a president, who was the councilman with the most votes in the elections for the council. The composition, structure and powers of Rio's city council, and of all the city and village councils of Brazil, was reformed in 1828, with the adoption of the Organic Law of the Municipal Councils (Imperial Law of 1 October 1828). In the case of Rio, the newly constituted city council (no longer titled Senado da Câmara, but instead named Câmara Municipal, began to operate in 1830.
Until 1834, although it was the Nation's Capital, Rio was administered just like any other Brazilian city: it was part of a Province, and its municipal government was discharged by a local council, with no mayor, and with the council's presiding officer (first the Outside Judges in the pre-independence period, then the council presidents in the era of the independent Empire), leading the council's affairs. However, until 1834, unlike other Provinces, that were led by a president appointed by the imperial government, alongside an elected provincial general council, the Province of Rio de Janeiro, because it contained the Empire's capital, had no president or general council, instead being administered directly by the imperial government, under the authority of the Minister and Secretary of State for the Affairs of the Empire (Ministro e Secretário de Estado para os Negócios do Império), the country's Justice and Interior minister.
However, in 1834, an amendment to the Constitution of the Empire of Brazil (the 1834 Additional Act), among other provisions, set the city of Rio de Janeiro, as the country's capital, apart from the Nation's provinces. The seat of the province of Rio de Janeiro was moved to the city of Niterói, and the city of Rio de Janeiro was included in a Neutral Municipality (in Portuguese, Município Neutro), belonging to no province, and answering directly to the imperial government. The 1834 Additional Act also replaced provincial general councils with more powerful provincial legislative assemblies. Along with separating the Empire's capital (the city of Rio de Janeiro) from the Province of Rio de Janeiro, the 1934 Additional Act put an end to the direct administration of the Province of Rio de Janeiro by the Imperial Government under the responsibility of the Minister for the Empire. Thus, from 1834 onwards, the Province of Rio de Janeiro, with its capital in Niterói, was governed under the same system that applied to the other Provinces of the Empire: the Executive authority was vested in a province president, appointed by the emperor, who served alongside an elected Provincial Legislative Assembly. After this 1834 reform, however, the Province of Rio de Janeiro had no jurisdiction over the city of Rio de Janeiro, that was a separate political entity as the Neutral Municipality, not belonging to any Province. Within the Neutral Municipality, the imperial government, in addition to discharging the competences of the central government, directly discharged, with regard to the city of Rio de Janeiro, the competences that were proper to provincial governments. Nevertheless, in the Neutral Municipality, Municipal functions continued under the authority of the city council (Câmara Municipal), and, after the 1834 Additional Act, the city council remained constituted as before: led by its president, and with no separate office of mayor, the president of the city council being the councilman elected with most votes in the local elections. The powers and duties of the municipal authorities of the Neutral Municipality were the same of the municipal authorities of all other Brazilian municipalities, and the election, composition and powers of the city council continued to be regulated by the 1828 Organic Law of the Municipal Councils. However, as a result of the 1834 reform, since it was no longer part of any province, the city of Rio de Janeiro gained direct representation in the Imperial Parliament: the people of Neutral Municipality were represented in the General Assembly (the Empire's Parliament) by a delegation of senators and members of the Chamber of Deputies, elected as if the Neutral Municipality were a province.
In 1889 the Empire of Brazil was abolished by a military coup d'état, and replaced with a Federal Republic. Brazil's provinces became States, and the Neutral Municipality became the Federal District (Distrito Federal in Portuguese), with the city of Rio de Janeiro continuing to be the Nation's capital. The old Province of Rio de Janeiro became the State of Rio de Janeiro (retaining Niterói as its capital), and it continued to be an entity completely separate from the city of Rio de Janeiro. While in the imperial era the central government retained the provincial-level functions and the Neutral Municipality discharged only municipal functions, in the new Federal Republic, the Federal District discharged all municipal competences and most competences of a state, except as otherwise provided by the Federal Constitution or by Federal Laws; it elected senators and federal deputies as if it were a state.
However, the Federal Government of the newly created Republic assumed the power of appointing the city's executive leaders, and the power to elect the municipal executive of the Republic's capital was only given to the people decades after the capital of Brazil had been transferred from Rio to Brasília, while in the imperial period the leadership of the municipality was elected by popular vote. Rio was the capital of republican Brazil from the Proclamation of the Republic in 1889 until 1960. During the period of the Provisional Government (1889–1891), when the institutional framework of the new republican Federation was still being created, the elected city council (Câmara Municipal) was dissolved, and the Federal District was transitionally administered by a council of unelected Intendentes Municipais, appointed by the Federal Provisional Government. Francisco Antonio Pessoa de Barros was the first president of that council of Intendentes. The Council of Intendentes discharged both executive and legislative functions. In 1891, that temporary arrangement ceased, the Council of Intendentes was abolished, and the permanent structures of the government of the Federal District were created, with the recreation the city council, resuming the old name of Câmara Municipal, and with the establishment of the separate executive office of the mayor of the Federal District. Thus the city council (Câmara Municipal), elected by the city's people, resumed its role as the local body of lawmaking and oversight, but it lost its executive powers, and a separate executive office of mayor was created for the Federal District. From then on, therefore, the presidents of the council became mere presiding officers of a legislative chamber, and administrative functions were transferred from the council and its president to the mayor of the Federal District (in Portuguese, Prefeito do Distrito Federal, literally meaning Prefect of the Federal District). While the several States elected its Governments, the mayors of the Federal District during that period were appointed by the president of the Republic, and thus answered to the Federal Government. Accordingly, all mayors of the Federal District during the period when Rio de Janeiro was the capital of the Republic (1889–1960) were presidential appointees. The presidential appointment of the mayor required confirmation by the Brazilian Federal Senate. Barata Ribeiro took office as the first mayor of the Federal District in 1892.
From 1937 to 1946, during the Estado Novo dictatorship of President Getúlio Vargas, the city council of the Federal District was dissolved (on a theoretically provisional basis, pending elections that, however, were never held until the overthrowal of the dictator), and, during that period, and a Federal Interventor governed the Federal District, discharging both the executive functions of the office of mayor and the legislative functions of the dissolved city council. Henrique Dodsworth was the Federal Interventor during the whole period of the Estado Novo regime. When Vargas was deposed, Dodsworth was removed as Interventor by transitional administration of President José Linhares, and, appointed by Linhares, Filadelfo de Azevedo served as the second and last Federal Interventor, pending elections for a National Constituent Assembly and for the city council of the Federal District. In 1946, after the deposition of the dictatorship and the restoration of democratic freedoms in Brazil, the Federal Intervention ceased, and the separate institutions of the mayor and the city council were reestablished, following the same pattern that existed before 1937: the executive mayor was nominated by the president of the Republic and appointed after approval by the Federal Senate, and legislative powers within the Federal District were vested in the directly elected city council. Appointed by President Eurico Gaspar Dutra, Hildebrando de Araújo Góis became the first mayor of the Federal District after the termination of the Intervention on 2 February 1946.
On 21 April 1960, the city of Rio lost its status as the country's capital: the capital of Brazil was transferred to the newly built city of Brasília, and that city thus became the seat of the new Federal District. On that day, the old Federal District became a new State within the Brazilian Federal Republic, under the name of State of Guanabara. Because it was made up of a single city (the city of Rio de Janeiro), the State of Guanabara was the only State in Brazil not divided into municipalities. Therefore, Guanabara was a state, and its State Government discharged both state and municipal competences. The first governor of Guanabara, José Sette Câmara Filho, was appointed on an interim capacity by the president of the Republic, after his nomination was approved by the Brazilian Federal Senate, to lead a provisional Administration until the State could organize itself and elect its officers. Sette Camara took office on the same date the new State came into being, but in December 1960 Carlos Lacerda was sworn-in as the first elected governor of the newly constituted State of Guanabara, serving alongside the State Legislative Assembly. Lacerda thus became the first leader directly elected by the people of Rio to govern the city in a purely Executive office held by a single person and separate from the city council (or its successor State Legislative Assembly).
Under Brazil's 1946 Constitution, state governors were elected by direct popular ballot (as they are nowadays) but, during the 1964–1985 military dictatorship, indirect elections for governor were implemented from 1970 onwards, and governors were elected by the State Legislative Assemblies during the 1970s. As part of the process of transition to democracy, popular elections for state governors were reinstated from 1982 onwards. Accordingly, in the 1960 and 1965 elections, the governors of the State of Guanabara were chosen by popular vote, and in the 1970 election the governor was chosen by the state assembly.
In 1975, during Brazil's military dictatorship, the Federal Government decided to abolish the State of Guanabara by forcing it to merge with the State of Rio de Janeiro. This was possible only due to the exceptionally centralizing constitutional legislation that governed Brazil during the 1964–1985 military regime: the merger was implemented by federal statute, without any vote of the populations affected and without any consultation with the state assemblies involved. Juridically, a new state was born out of the merger of the two preceding ones, although this new State was also named State of Rio de Janeiro, and in spite of the fact that the Constituent Assembly of the new State later decided to keep the same flag that had been used by the old State of Rio de Janeiro. The city of Rio de Janeiro (formerly the seat of the State of Guanabara), became the capital of the new State of Rio de Janeiro. With the abolition of the old State of Rio de Janeiro, the city of Niterói ceased to be a State capital. The merger was implemented on 15 March 1975. From then on, therefore, the city of Rio de Janeiro ceased to be included in the State of Guanabara and the position of governor of Guanabara ceased to exist.
While the new State of Rio de Janeiro assumed the state-level powers and state duties of the former state of Guanabara, a new political entity was created at the local level as a result of the merger of the two States: the Municipality of Rio de Janeiro (Município do Rio de Janeiro), the legal entity that governs the city at the municipal level and that assumed the municipal-level powers and duties that previously had been discharged by the state of Guanabara jointly with state-level functions.
Therefore, after the 1975 merger between the old State of Rio de Janeiro and the State of Guanabara, with the creation of the new State of Rio de Janeiro and of the Municipality of Rio de Janeiro, the city of Rio became for the first time since 1834 a normal Brazilian city, with an ordinary municipal administration like other cities: it is constituted as a municipality that forms part of a State, that in turn forms part of the Nation; indeed, with the 1975 merger of States, for the first time since 1834, the city of Rio de Janeiro became once again a part of the surrounding Rio de Janeiro Province or State (and its Capital city). From then on, in the city of Rio de Janeiro, a city council (Câmara Municipal) discharges the municipal Legislative authority, while Executive functions of the Municipality are vested in the separate office of mayor (Prefeito, literally Prefect). The Executive Branch of the city's government is called Municipal Prefecture (Prefeitura Municipal).
Until the termination of Brazil's military dictatorship in 1985, mayors of the City of Rio de Janeiro (as well as the mayors of the other Brazilian state capitals) were appointed by the state governor. [1] In March 1975 Marcos Tamoio became the first mayor of Rio de Janeiro as a Municipality of the State of Rio de Janeiro, by appointment of the new state's first governor, Floriano Faria Lima.
Since 1985 the mayors of Rio de Janeiro – as well as the mayors of all other Brazilian municipalities, including state capitals – are elected by the people, by direct universal suffrage. In 1985 Saturnino Braga became the city's first directly elected chief executive since the 1965 election for Governor of Guanabara, and Rio's first directly elected mayor. Since the adoption of a Federal Constitutional Amendment in 1997, mayors can stand for reelection, for one consecutive term.
| Portrait | Name (Birth–Death) | Term (Elected) | Term of office | Political Party | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |  | José Sette Câmara Filho (1920–2002) | Provisional governor appointed by the Federal Government with the advice and consent of the Brazilian Federal Senate. | 21 April 1960 | 5 December 1960 | Independent | |
| 2 |  | Carlos Lacerda (1914–1977) | • (1960) | 5 December 1960 | 11 October 1965 | National Democratic Union | |
| 3 |  | Raphael de Almeida Magalhães (1930–2011) | • Vice-governor, succeeded to the governorship upon the resignation of the elected governor. | 11 October 1965 | 5 December 1965 | National Democratic Union | |
| 4 |  | Francisco Negrão de Lima (1901–1981) | • (1965) | 5 December 1965 | 15 March 1970 | Social Democratic Party | |
| 5 |  | Antonio de Pádua Chagas Freitas (1914–1991) | • (1970) Elected by the state assembly | 15 March 1970 | 15 March 1975 | Brazilian Democratic Movement | |
| Portrait | Name (Birth–Death) | Term (Elected) | Term of office | Political Party | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |  | Marcos Tamoio (1926–1981) | Appointed by State Government | 15 March 1975 | 15 March 1979 | National Renewal Alliance | |
| 2 |  | Israel Klabin (born in 1926) | Appointed by State Government | 15 March 1979 | 3 June 1980 | Brazilian Democratic Movement | |
| 3 |  | Júlio Coutinho (1929–2009) | Appointed by State Government | 3 June 1980 | 15 March 1983 | Brazilian Democratic Movement Party | |
| 4 |  | Jamil Haddad (1926–2009) | Appointed by State Government | 15 March 1983 | 5 December 1983 | Democratic Labour Party | |
| 5 |  | Marcello Alencar (1925–2014) | Appointed by State Government | 5 December 1983 | 1 January 1986 [2] | Democratic Labour Party | |
| 6 |  | Saturnino Braga (born in 1931) | • (1985) | 1 January 1986 | 1 January 1989 [3] | Democratic Labour Party | |
| Brazilian Socialist Party | |||||||
| 7 | | Marcello Alencar (1925–2014) | 2nd (1988) | 1 January 1989 [2] | 1 January 1993 | Democratic Labour Party | |
| 8 |  | Cesar Maia (born in 1945) | 1st (1992) | 1 January 1993 | 1 January 1997 | Brazilian Democratic Movement Party | |
| 9 |  | Luiz Paulo Conde (1934–2015) | • (1996) | 1 January 1997 | 1 January 2001 | Liberal Front Party | |
| 10 | | Cesar Maia (born in 1945) | 2nd (2000) | 1 January 2001 | 1 January 2009 | Brazilian Labour Party | |
| Democrats | |||||||
| 3rd (2004) | |||||||
| 11 |  | Eduardo Paes (born in 1969) | 1st (2008) | 1 January 2009 | 1 January 2017 | Brazilian Democratic Movement Party | |
| 2nd (2012) | |||||||
| 12 |  | Marcelo Crivella (born in 1957) | • (2016) | 1 January 2017 | 1 January 2021 | Republicanos | |
| 13 | | Eduardo Paes (born in 1969) | 3rd (2020) | 1 January 2021 | Incumbent | Democrats | |
| Social Democratic Party | |||||||
Rio de Janeiro, or simply Rio, is the capital of the state of the same name, and the second most populous city in Brazil, after São Paulo. Listed by the GaWC as a beta global city, Rio de Janeiro is the sixth most populous city in the Americas. Part of the city has been designated as a World Heritage Site, named "Rio de Janeiro: Carioca Landscapes between the Mountain and the Sea", on 1 July 2012 as a Cultural Landscape.
Local government is a generic term for the lowest tiers of public administration within a particular sovereign state. This particular usage of the word government refers specifically to a level of administration that is both geographically localised and has limited powers. While in some countries, "government" is normally reserved purely for a national administration (government), the term local government is always used specifically in contrast to national government – as well as, in many cases, the activities of sub-national, first-level administrative divisions. Local governments generally act only within powers specifically delegated to them by law and/or directives of a higher level of government. In federal states, local government generally comprises a third or fourth tier of government, whereas in unitary states, local government usually occupies the second or third tier of government.
In many countries, a mayor is the highest-ranking official in a municipal government such as that of a city or a town. Worldwide, there is a wide variance in local laws and customs regarding the powers and responsibilities of a mayor as well as the means by which a mayor is elected or otherwise mandated. Depending on the system chosen, a mayor may be the chief executive officer of the municipal government, may simply chair a multi-member governing body with little or no independent power, or may play a solely ceremonial role. A mayor's duties and responsibilities may be to appoint and oversee municipal managers and employees, provide basic governmental services to constituents, and execute the laws and ordinances passed by a municipal governing body. Options for selection of a mayor include direct election by the public, or selection by an elected governing council or board.
The Federal District is one of 27 federative units of Brazil. Located in the Center-West Region, it is the smallest Brazilian federal unit and the only one that has no municipalities, being divided into 33 administrative regions. The federal capital of Brazil, Brasília, which is also the seat of government of the Federal District, is located in its territory. The Federal District is almost completely surrounded by the state of Goiás, but it shares a small border with Minas Gerais.
The municipalities of Brazil are administrative divisions of the Brazilian states. Brazil currently has 5,570 municipalities, which, given the 2019 population estimate of 210,147,125, makes an average municipality population of 37,728 inhabitants. The average state in Brazil has 214 municipalities. Roraima is the least subdivided state, with 15 municipalities, while Minas Gerais is the most, with 853. Northern states are divided into small numbers of large municipalities, and therefore they cover large areas incorporating several separated cities or towns that do not necessarily conform to one single conurbation. Southern and eastern states on the other hand, are divided into many small municipalities, and therefore large urban areas usually extend over several municipalities which form one single conurbation.
The federative units of Brazil are subnational entities with a certain degree of autonomy and endowed with their own government and constitution, which together form the Federative Republic of Brazil. There are 26 states and one federal district. The states are generally based on historical, conventional borders which have developed over time. The states are divided into municipalities, while the Federal District assumes the competences of both a state and a municipality.
Rio de Janeiro is one of the 27 federative units of Brazil. It has the second largest economy of Brazil, with the largest being that of the state of São Paulo. The state, which has 8.2% of the Brazilian population, is responsible for 9.2% of the Brazilian GDP.
Niterói is a municipality in the state of Rio de Janeiro, in the southeast region of Brazil. It lies across Guanabara Bay, facing the city of Rio de Janeiro and forming part of the Rio de Janeiro Metropolitan Area. It was the state capital, as marked by its golden mural crown, from 1834 to 1894 and again from 1903 to 1975. It has an estimated population of 515,317 inhabitants (2020) and an area of 129.375 km2 (49.952 sq mi), making it the fifth most populous city in the state. It has the highest Human Development Index in the state and the seventh highest among Brazil's municipalities in 2010. Individually, it is the second municipality with the highest average monthly household income per capita in Brazil and appears in 13th place among the municipalities of the country according to social indicators related to education. The city has the nicknames of Nikiti, Nicki City and the Smile City (Cidade Sorriso).
In Brazil, the mayor is the chief executive of the smallest territorial unit — the municipality — and holds executive powers of the local government, in a "strong mayor-council" arrangement. In Portuguese, the mayor is called the prefeito or prefeita, while the government itself is termed the prefeitura.
The State of Guanabara was a state of Brazil from 1960 to 1975, which included the city of Rio de Janeiro. It was named after Guanabara Bay to the east of the state. It was created from the territory of the old Federal District when the federal capital moved from Rio de Janeiro to Brasília and a new Federal District was erected around the new capital. In 1975 the State of Guanabara was merged with the surrounding State of Rio de Janeiro, within which its territory became the Municipality of Rio de Janeiro.
A capital district, capital region or capital territory is normally a specially designated administrative division where a country's seat of government is located. As such, in a federal model of government, no state or territory has any political or economic advantage relative to the others because of the national capital lying within its borders. A capital territory can be a specific form of federal district.
Gravataí is a Brazilian municipality near Porto Alegre at the Rio Grande do Sul State. Its population is approximately 280,000 people, making it the sixth most populous city in the state.
A merger, consolidation or amalgamation, in a political or administrative sense, is the combination of two or more political or administrative entities, such as municipalities, counties, districts, etc., into a single entity. This term is used when the process occurs within a sovereign entity.
The Laranjeiras Palace is the official residence of the Governor of the State of the Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. The palace is located within Eduardo Guinle Park, a park in the Laranjeiras neighborhood of the city of Rio de Janeiro. It should not be confused with Guanabara Palace, located in the same neighborhood, which is the official seat of the government of the State of Rio de Janeiro.
The Federalist Revolution was a civil war that took place in southern Brazil between 1893 and 1895, fought by the federalists, opponents of Rio Grande do Sul state president, Júlio de Castilhos, seeking greater autonomy for the state, decentralization of power by the newly installed First Brazilian Republic and, arguably, the restoration of the monarchy.
The Neutral Municipality, more formally known in the imperial era as the Neutral Municipality of the Court, in reference to the Imperial Court, was an administrative unit created in the Empire of Brazil, that existed in the territory corresponding to the current location of the municipality of Rio de Janeiro between August 12, 1834 and November 15, 1889, when was proclaimed the republic in Brazil. It only officially ceased to exist with the promulgation of the 1891 Constitution. Under the republican constitution, this administrative unit became the Federal District in 1891, which was abolished and transformed into the state of Guanabara in 1960, and later, with the fusion of this with the state of Rio de Janeiro in 1975.
The Federal District was an administrative division of Brazil created by the Brazilian Constitution of 1891. During the Empire of Brazil the administrative unit that corresponded to this territory was designated the Neutral Municipality. It was a legal entity under public law until 1960, in the territory corresponding to the current municipality of Rio de Janeiro.
The Tiradentes Palace, was inaugurated on 6 May 1926 and is located in the Centro neighborhood (bairro), next to the Paço Imperial in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. It was the former seat of the Chamber of Deputies of Brazil, between 1926 and 1960, and is the current seat of the Legislative Assembly of the State of Rio de Janeiro.