Collective mandate assumes for the first time in Porto Alegre
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In the year in which the Chamber of Porto Alegre will complete its 250th anniversary, the first collective mandate in the history of the House will assume one of the 36 seats of the Legislative. The group, linked to the PCdoB, has as its mandate holder the social scientist Giovani Culau, and the coverers Airton Silva, Tássia Amorim, Vivian Aires and Fabíola Loguercio. The collective ran for council for the first time in the last municipal elections of 2020, making a total of 3,691 votes – which placed them as the party’s first alternate in the Chamber. Now, with the departure of councilor Bruna Rodrigues, elected state deputy, the group assumes the mandate from February 1st in the Legislative.
According to Culau, the formation of the collective mandate began to be discussed in 2018, inspired by the election of the Activist Banquet in São Paulo – one of the first collective mandates to be elected in Brazil.
The group, made up mostly of young people who came from the periphery, originates from the Socialist Youth Union (UJS), the Black and Black Union for Equality (Unegro) and the Brazilian Women’s Union (UBM). Culau claims that the fight against personalist politics and the search for greater representation in the City Council made the group unite around a collective mandate.
Due to the strong involvement of the group with the student movement, Culau pointed out that the main flag defended by them in the Chamber will be education. The members of the mandate also harshly criticized the lack of representativeness of the periphery in municipal politics – in contrast to this, the collective brought an innovative proposal – still in campaign – which seeks to install itinerant offices in the most needy neighborhoods of the city. In this way, while Culau fulfills the Legislative’s internal agendas, the co-councillors will be acting in the neighborhoods, in order to accommodate the residents’ demands.
Cover artist Vivian Aires said that the group still intends to strengthen associations of residents of peripheral neighborhoods, seeking to facilitate articulation with communities. “That was what bothered us about politics: the lack of dialogue, debate, the lack of representation from the periphery. It was what we missed as citizens”, defended Vivian.
Meet the members of the Collective Movement
The LGBTQIA+ activist Giovani Culau will be the leader of the Collective Movement and assumes the mandate as the youngest councilor in the Chamber, at the age of 28. The former resident of the Ponta Grossa neighborhood promises to work on behalf of youth. “Even with our youth, with all our capacity, with our potential, there is still a generational prejudice within the Chamber, but we are going to respond to that with a lot of work, with a lot of delivery and a lot of dedication”.
Vivian Aires is the oldest of the group, at 35 years old. Graduated in Law and majoring in Literature, the future covereadora works in popular courses in Lomba do Pinheiro, the neighborhood where she lives. “I joined the Collective Movement seeking to break with this individualist policy that personalizes figures much more out of a desire for permanence and for their own career, than thinking of the collective good as their main mission”.
Social work student Fabiola Loguercio will assume the mandate as covereadora at the age of 25. A resident of the Centro Histórico neighborhood, Fabiola has the feminist struggle as her main banner. “Many mothers are on the streets looking for a job to feed their children, we need to think about public policies to welcome these women”.
Airton Silva lives in Bairro Vila Nova, in the north of Porto Alegre. Student of collective health, he will take over as a cover boy at the age of 27. “We come from the periphery, so we know the difficulties of public transport, the lack of water, the difficult access to education, that’s why we will act mainly in these places”.
A resident of the Restinga neighborhood, Tássia Amorim is a pedagogy student and began her political activism at the age of 15, through the student movement. Tássia takes over as cover singer at the age of 25. “The Collective Movement is a construction completely different from the traditional model, it breaks with the old politics, makes the mandate truly collective and not just that of an individual”.
The future of collective mandates
Political scientist Bruno Schaefer welcomes this new format of political representation and believes that the tendency is for there to be an increase in collective candidacies across Brazil. “Any initiative that seeks to increase representation in the country is important”, he defended.
Schaefer attributes this phenomenon to a crisis of representativeness in politics experienced by Brazilians.
The scientist believes that the potential growth of these candidacies will depend on officialization by the Brazilian Electoral Code – which still does not provide for shared candidacies. “The fact that these collective mandates operate clandestinely, coupled with the absence of references to candidacies in this format, makes the population feel strange”, assesses Schaefer.
Still according to the political scientist, in the 2022 election there was an important advance for shared mandates, which was the release of the Superior Electoral Court (TSE) so that these mandates could mention the group that makes up the candidacy in the electronic ballot box and not just the name of the holder of the collective.
Stalemates with the Chamber regiment
Despite being an electoral proposal that has been growing in Brazil, the mandate composed of more than one councilor is not foreseen in the regulations of the Municipal Legislative. For this reason, the other members of the collective will not be able to act in the Chamber, only Culau – who is the titular councilor. Therefore, only he can participate in committees, speak in plenary and vote.
Questioned about this obstacle, Culau emphasized that he will start a national articulation, in order to regulate this type of electoral proposal. The future councilor also claims that he will assume the position in the Chamber under the name “Giovani e colectivo”, a way of bringing more visibility to the other members of the group.
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