While much has been made of Brazil’s economic downturn, a toxic political climate is equally responsible for the current woes of President Dilma Rousseff and her government. Mauricio Savarese looks at the complex backdrop to the crisis. By Mauricio Savarese São Paulo There is no easy explanation as to why, just under a year after being reelected by a narrow margin,(…)
Arquivo - Tag: Elections
Protests, and the World Cup – Changing attitudes
Increasingly, Brazilians are blasé about two things most everyone used to be excited about – the FIFA World Cup and a wave of protests. We’ll see which way the pendulum swings again come June. Above, last year’s protests become the theme of a small ‘bloco’ at this year’s Carnaval. By Mauricio Savarese Attitudes went from(…)
Marina Silva’s surprise alliance
By Dom Phillips Brazilian presidential hopeful Marina Silva took everybody by surprise Saturday when she joined forces with Eduardo Campos of the PSB party. The two will team up to fight the 2014 presidential election, with Silva most likely campaigning as Campos’s vice-president. Now the race suddenly looks interesting. Joining an existing party was the only way(…)
No party for Marina Silva
By Dom Phillips Last night, in a tense, high-profile ruling, Brazil’s electoral court decided that a new party set up by Marina Silva, a popular opposition politician, could not fight in next year’s presidential elections. Silva’s party, the Rede Sustentabilidade, or Sustainability Network, had not registered enough members at election notary offices throughout Brazil by(…)
Brazil 2012 – year in review
This year, the country didn’t deliver on everything international observers thought the country had promised, but Brazil still remains one of the 21st century’s most remarkable success stories. 2013 could be decisive. For those paying attention to Brazil headlines, 2012 was mostly a bad year. For some, it was enough to re-evaluate the status as(…)
Last weekend’s municipal elections – win for Lula, and a messier party system
Fernando Haddad, Lula and Dilma’s man, will run São Paulo. But across the country, the sprawling multi-party system became even more complicated. By last Sunday every city in Brazil had selected a new mayor. This will affect everyone here differently, as they will be governed at the local level by one of the 19 –(…)
A tale of two elections – Brazil and Venezuela
In many ways, political culture in South America’s two most-watched countries couldn’t be more different. Brazilian voters, like this one walking over campaign flyers yesterday, are less politicized, and choose between candidates who agree on the big questions. Yesterday, Brazilians and Venezuelans went to the polls. Here, voters broadly voted to maintain the powers that(…)
Municipal elections Sunday – a quick guide
Brazilians go to the polls on Sunday to elect their municipal representatives. These posts are quite important, as mayors have a great deal of power here. For those of us that live in Brazil, these campaigns can often drag on forever, but have turned out to be quite interesting this year. For those living abroad,(…)
