Quota reduction is a step backwards, experts say – 09/22/2023 – Power

The offensive by the National Congress to change electoral rules, one of whose proposals is to cut more than 50% of the campaign budget for black candidates, is a setback and the institutionalization of the underrepresentation of minority groups, say experts interviewed by the Sheet.

After a working group set up by the president of the Chamber of Deputies, Arthur Lira (PP-AL), presented the project that included cutting more than half of the campaign funds allocated to black people, the idea was incorporated into Amnesty’s PEC report .

The proposal, together with the so-called mini-electoral reform —approved in the Chamber last week—, also provides for a series of points that weaken the punishment for irregularities committed by parties and candidates.

According to Flávia Rios, sociologist, professor at UFF (Universidade Federal Fluminense) and researcher at Afro-Cebrap, if the proposal is sanctioned it will be a setback, because it affects the financing of black candidacies, which help to reflect the Brazilian population in electoral competition.

“It is a project that, if it passes, makes Lira, president of the Chamber, a great enemy of the black population and the rights achieved, precisely because this TSE measure guaranteed greater participation of black people in electoral processes, enabling the viability of these candidacies, that can be seen in the election results.”

The congressmen’s argument for carrying out the mini-electoral reform is that the rules have bureaucratically hindered the functioning of parties, elections and democracy itself.

In addition to restrictive interpretations given by the Electoral Court on the legislation in force, the quota for blacks is given as an example by several of them of undue interference by the Judiciary in the responsibilities of Congress.

Hannah Maruci Aflalo, director of A Tenda das Candidatas, which trains women for electoral disputes, also sees the proposal as a setback and says that the measure is not isolated.

“In recent years, mini-reforms have been carried out in a hurry, without transparency and without the participation of civil society. Not surprisingly, it has been presenting setbacks to affirmative action policies that aim to include underrepresented groups in politics, which are women and black people”, he says.

Aflalo also states that there is a history of these policies. “In 2020, PEC 134 wanted to remove the 30% of women’s candidacy and replace it with 15% of seats. In 2021, there is a new ‘mini-reform’ proposal that also threatens women’s funding quotas and other points.”

Therefore, A Tenda das Candidatas and VoteLGBT sent a document to the mini-reform working group pointing out what in the text would harm the rights of women, black people, LGBT people and indigenous people.

The so-called mini-reform will have to pass through the Senate before being submitted for sanction by President Lula (PT). For the cut in black electoral funds to take effect in the 2024 municipal elections, the text must be approved and promulgated by October 5th.

For sociologist Luiz Augusto Campos, if approved, the changes will institutionalize underrepresentation in politics, which has already been happening over the years.

“What our studies show is that these new rules [para aumentar a presença de negros e mulheres na política] have had less impact than they should in reducing racial and gender inequalities in elections.”

The weakening of quotas for black people and women has also received support from parliamentarians on the left, especially from the PT.

President Lula’s party defined that the speech will be that the agenda has no relation to the government and that the position, therefore, is strictly partisan.

On the left, traditionally a defender of quotas for women and black people, only the PSOL is openly against the proposals and threatens to legalize the changes, if approved. In PC do B, there is criticism and support.

For Aflalo, this support from the left is nothing new. According to her, this shows that machismo and racism are not exclusive to one or another party or ideological position, but are structural.

“The parties are defending their own interests and are not managing to fulfill what affirmative action requires. Because it involves a very big change in the status quo in politics.”

Frei David, coordinator of Educafro, claims that the PT and left-wing parties are stabbing women and black people in the back. “They want us to give up our rights. The PT can negotiate everything, except the rights of the oppressed, who are women and Afro-Brazilians. The argument that the PT uses is that the TSE imposes heavy fines because of the rights recognized by the TSE, [mas] These rights should be the initiative of the parties.”

According to him, popular pressure is necessary and, perhaps, is the “only social instrument that would stop the cruelty of right, left and center parties”. “The problem is that the left is in the hands of the right and the center. The left has no identity, having to sell itself in order to govern poorly”, says Friar David.