Opposition promises to continue obstructing votes in the Chamber

The obstruction movement initiated by the opposition and several parliamentary fronts in the National Congress is expected to continue with broad support next week in the Chamber of Deputies. Parliamentarians heard by People’s Gazette stated that the College of Leaders must maintain the suspension of important votes for the government of President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (PT). The group protests against the judicial activism practiced by the Federal Supreme Court (STF).

“The guideline is to only vote on projects considered ‘irrelevant’: commemorative dates and projects without financial and tax impact”, stated deputy Evair de Melo (PP-ES).

Vice-president of the Parliamentary Agricultural Front, the deputy confirmed that the obstruction is a “hammer beaten and nail turned” among its members. Furthermore, he also stated that parliamentarians will study the installation of the special commission for the “PEC of balance between powers”, authored by deputy Domingos Sávio (PL-MG), next week.

Important topics for Parliament – such as the PEC on Amnesty and the PEC on Indemnities for the Temporal Framework -, however, may suffer interruptions if the obstruction is maintained. However, the president of the Chamber, Arthur Lira (PP-AL), would have stated that the special commission to analyze the compensation project would be installed.

“Arthur [Lira] assured me that the commission will be installed”, said the president of the Parliamentary Front for Agriculture, Pedro Lupion (PP-PR), to CNN. Despite the installation of the commission, it is not guaranteed that the work will continue. In addition to the plenary votes, the group of parliamentarians also plans to obstruct the House’s thematic committees.

Votes x total obstruction

When they overturned the agenda in the Chamber of Deputies, on Tuesday (26) and for a good part of the day on Wednesday (27), the expectation of the parliamentarians who joined the obstruction was that no vote would go ahead. However, the president of the House, Arthur Lira (PP-AL), changed his position and introduced Provisional Measure (MP) 1177/23, which opens extraordinary credit of R$200 million in the 2023 Budget to combat avian influenza, for a vote in plenary on Wednesday night. On the one hand, the measure served agribusiness.

The vote was seen as a weakening of the total obstruction movement, but, according to deputy Evair de Melo, deliberation on this matter had been agreed between the leaders and Lira. “This MP was voted symbolically and the money allocated for it has already been spent. It was no maneuver, especially because there was no administrative sanction on the part of the president against the deputies in favor of obstruction”, said the parliamentarian.

The aforementioned sanction is provided for in the Internal Regulations of the Chamber of Deputies. Through it, the President of the House can punish parliamentarians for not attending the vote. But, according to Melo, Lira will respect the decision of the college of leaders on obstructing the legislative agenda.

“With the Public Security Front and the Agricultural Front, we have two thirds of the House who close the question on the matter and President Lira respects the decision taken by the College of Leaders to support the obstruction. The government is the one who needs to negotiate with the leaders,” he said.

Opposition articulates PEC to pressure the Supreme Court

The “PEC do Equilíbrio” was filed on Wednesday (27) and is currently at the Board of Directors of the Chamber. The proposal changes art. 49 of the Federal Constitution to establish the possibility of the National Congress suspending, by a qualified majority of the members of the Chamber of Deputies and the Federal Senate, a decision of the Federal Supreme Court that has become final and unappealable, which goes beyond constitutional limits.

The project must go through the Constitution and Justice Commission (CCJ) and, if approved, it will be taken to a Special Commission that will deal with the topic. After that, it can be voted on in the House plenary. Find out more about the processing of the PEC.

The desire of the deputies, as well as the senators, is that Lira and the president of the Senate, Rodrigo Pacheco (PSD-MG), pressure the Supreme Court not to enter into topics that are the prerogative of the Legislature, such as the decriminalization of marijuana and abortion up to the 12th week of pregnancy. The judgment on the time frame also generated strong criticism from the Legislature, especially from parliamentarians linked to the Parliamentary Agriculture Front.

In the Senate, instead of obstruction, the House decided to vote and approve the bill on the time frame for the demarcation of indigenous lands this Wednesday (27). The base text passed with 43 votes in favor and 21 against. It was also a reaction to the STF, which last week rejected the thesis. The text provides that the cession of areas in favor of indigenous people only applies to lands that were already inhabited by tribes on the date of promulgation of the 1988 Constitution.

The deputy leader of the opposition in the Chamber, Maurício Marcon (Pode-RS), confirmed that the orientation of the parliamentary fronts is to continue with the obstruction movement against important agendas for the government.

“This discomfort with the STF is not only among right-wing deputies, but is also seen among left-wing deputies. What the Supreme Court has been doing is a major confrontation with Congress. We know that it is legislating at the behest of the Lula government, which does not has a vote in Congress. The guideline is to maintain obstruction”, said Marcon.

And he added: “It’s not a fight between powers, but we want our prerogatives as parliamentarians to be respected. It’s a watershed in which Lira and Pacheco do something. Or we will move towards an unsustainable state.”