Opposition lawmakers are afraid to criticize other powers

Research carried out by the Sivis Institute, in partnership with the Congress in Focus, points out that 24.8% of parliamentarians do not feel that they can criticize the actions and heads of other powers without fear of retaliation. A total of 105 parliamentarians were interviewed who, when participating in the study, had to identify themselves ideologically as grassroots (39), independent (39) or opposition (27).

The federal deputies and senators who feel most coerced were the opposition, a group that tends to be more critical of the Government’s decisions. If the Federal Constitution provides that the Legislative Power has the function of supervising the government, this is not how ¼ of the members that make up the Chamber of Deputies and the Federal Senate judge themselves in practice.

“The journalist needs to ask the question, investigate the issues and make the criticisms he considers appropriate to make. Likewise, a politician. He has to be able to denounce, criticize, opine. It is the voter who should judge the politician,” explains political scientist and professor at Insper, Fernando Schüler.

For Schüler, the fear of parliamentarians when expressing themselves demonstrates a fragile parliament. “In the Federal Constitution, in article 53, you have parliamentary immunity. The parliamentarian cannot be banned or censored for any of his opinions, words or votes. The Constitution guarantees broad freedom of expression for him. But recently, seven Brazilian deputies were banned and censored,” she points out.

Some 75% of opposition MPs also stated that, over the last year, ordinary people’s ability to express themselves freely on political matters has deteriorated. Another 25% think that the scenario has remained the same.

“When you impede the free flow of ideas, you have to trust that the authority to whom you delegate the right to censor everyone is infallible. In a democracy, no one is untouchable or infallible”, adds the political scientist.

It is possible to associate the positions of parliamentarians on freedom of expression with self-declared ideologies. When answering if it is forbidden or not to publicly defend dictatorships, 68.8% stated that it is illegal. Of this percentage, half consider themselves a parliamentarian from the base of the Lula government. The majority of those who consider the defense legitimate call themselves independent or opposition.

For 19% of parliamentarians, it is against the law to question the current electoral system, with more than half of the base. Most of those who answered no (61%) consider themselves independent. In fact, Brazilian laws do not prohibit criticism of the electoral system.

Jamil Assis, manager of institutional relations at the Sivis Institute, explained that the purpose of the study is to shed light on freedom of expression, an important value for democracy. “There was a lack of more product, more knowledge, more discussion on the subject. But, above all, more concrete and recent data, both from Congress and from the population, ”he clarifies.

Sivis intends to approach federal deputies and senators and address freedom of expression as a matter of priority for the maintenance of the Democratic State of Law. “We hope that the data will help in this discussion, in addition, we want to get closer to the parliamentarians of Brasília and this information will serve to start important conversations about the defense of democracy”, foresees Assis.

Click here to access the complete survey.

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