New will define whether to use a party fund

The imposition of a barrier clause and public funding continue to produce profound changes in the country’s party framework. Now, even the Novo party is considering making two of the pillars of its statute more flexible, which make it different from other associations: self-financing and voluntary work.

Without resources for the party structure in Congress, as a result of not having reached the barrier clause in last year’s elections, the idea of ​​Novo is to make the rule related to the waiver of the party fund to use the income from amounts received from the Treasury and which were never expenses since the founding of the party, in 2015, as they were being fully deposited in court. The money would then be withdrawn monthly to fund the caption and remunerate (professionalize) its leaders.

The decision to be taken by the National Executive of Novo, in addition to the presidents and vice presidents of state directories, about whether or not to start using public resources to which it was entitled reflects the new party reality in the country and the concern with future elections.

The party that elected eight deputies in 2018 saw this number drop to three last year. Without having overcome the barrier clause, the party was excluded from the fund and lost the legislative structure of positions and leadership offices.

Due to restrictions linked to electoral performance, 14 of the 31 active parties, including Novo, will no longer have, as of this month, access to party and electoral fund resources and party propaganda.

By law, to continue using the resources, they would need to have obtained at least 2% of the valid votes throughout the country in the last election, with at least 1% of the vote in nine states or, even, the election of at least 11 federal deputies distributed in nine states.

Without access to the fund’s resources and others from Parliament itself, restricted to parties that exceeded the performance clause or took refuge in federations, Novo was left to debate an issue of an almost existential nature, which is the ban on the use of public money.

“This is a party issue that is being addressed by our leaders, who have already debated a lot on the subject and are moving towards a decision”, said Eduardo Girão (CE), the only senator of the party, to People’s Gazette. Girão was affiliated with Podemos and migrated to Novo in early February.

Another prominent name in the party, Deputy Marcel Van Hattem (RS) said he was against the use of public funding and promised to remain consistent with the original norm. The party statute, however, prevents the participation of the incumbents in the decisions of the convention.

The possibility of using party fund resources was criticized by João Amoêdo, who was one of the main exponents of the party. Through social media, Amoêdo attributed Novo’s electoral performance in the last elections to the work of the current party management and the attempt to get closer to former president Jair Bolsonaro (PL). “Without identity, without relevance and with few affiliates, it remains to bring in politicians dissatisfied with their parties and use public money obtained in previous administrations”, he said.

Amoêdo’s affiliation to the party has been suspended outright since October 2022 by decision of the Party Ethics Committee (CEP) of Novo. The reason was the declaration of support for Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (PT) in the second round of the 2022 elections. The expulsion request made by Deputy Marcel Van Hattem will still be judged by the acronym.

Effects of the Barrier Clause

The lawyer specialized in Electoral Law Antônio Augusto Mayer dos Santos understands that the adoption of the barrier clause has already had the practical effect of reducing the number of active parties in the political scene. He believes that the change will also facilitate the inspection of the captions and better qualify the names chosen as candidates.

For Mayer, with fewer subtitles, the municipal, state and federal governments will find it easier to negotiate with the benches of the respective legislatures. “Hyper-partisanship is harmful to democracy and this clause, with small nominal variations, has already been adopted by most democratic electoral systems”, he ponders.

According to other analysts, the political system will continue to be guided by the capture and growing dependence on public resources, consolidating the changes brought about by the 2017 electoral mini-reform. exert even greater pressure on the government’s agenda and the Union’s Budget.

Candidates for legislative office and political parties underwent a test in the 2022 election, which defined which parties would survive due to the barrier clause and the prohibition of coalitions. The rapporteur’s amendments to the secret budget entered the equation as an external variable to the electoral financing system, favoring candidates from different parties.

The arrangement of federations was insufficient to contain party mergers and migrations, such as that of União Brasil, but it has also been used to strengthen dominant blocs. The rapprochement between the PP and the Union showed, for example, the effort to gain a leading role in funds, proportional to the size of the benches in the Chamber.

The strategy for consolidating power in the Chamber was crystallized with the overwhelming victory of Arthur Lira (PP-AL) for the presidency, with 464 of the 513 votes in the plenary. The result of the votes to break the spending ceiling and the multiparty character of those favored by funds with little transparency or arising from fiscal irresponsibility also signal a new Brazilian political system.

As a practical result of these changes, national politics has been yielding to the game of party leaders, based on accounting rules, calculations of electoral viability and fierce fight for additional federal resources.

This logic should deepen with the barrier rules for the next general election, in 2026, when it will rise to 2.5% of the valid votes, with a minimum of 1.5% in at least nine states or 13 deputies distributed by nine units of the federation.

A former federal deputy from Rio Grande do Sul, who gave up seeking a new mandate last year, justified his decision with his disenchantment with the direction of politics. According to him, the fight for power around ideals or projects for the country has given way to the logic of adding up what each party can achieve from public funds and amendments to the Budget.

PL recovers the right to access a larger slice of the party pie

The division of resources via political parties follows the proportion of the bench of federal deputies, considering the previous election, in the most recent case that of 2018. Thus, the strategy of parties is to expand their benches, so that they become stronger and have more resources forward.

The value of the party fund in 2023 is almost R$ 1.2 billion. 17 subtitles will be entitled to monthly installments. After electing 99 federal deputies, the PL, of former President Jair Bolsonaro, took the largest share this year: R$ 205.8 million. Then came the PT, owned by President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, which earned more than R$152.9 million. In third place, União Brasil, with R$ 121.4 million. After these, the most benefited are PP, Republicans, MDB, PSD, PSB and PSOL.

The PL was prevented from accessing the fund after having received a fine from the president of the Superior Electoral Court (TSE), Minister Alexandre de Moraes, for litigating in bad faith when questioning votes cast in part of the ballot boxes in the second round of elections. The party’s president, Valdemar Costa Neto, authorized the payment of a fine of R$ 22.9 million. On the last 17th, Moraes confirmed the discharge and determined the release of the remaining balance in party accounts of the caption that was blocked, as well as the monthly transfer of the party fund.