COLLECTIVE MANDATES IN BRAZIL

perspective for improving democracy and innovations in political representation

Abstract

Candidacies and collective mandates have been considered innovations in political representation in
Brazil. Though not provided in the country‟s election rules in force, they became a strategy for election competition and present expectations involving the „doing‟ of politics and the possibility of inclusion of segments of the population, and more proximity among representatives and represented. The objective of this paper is to discuss the phenomenon of successful collective mandates in municipal legislative election in 2016 and 2020, and for the Chamber of Deputies in 2018. To contextualize these experiences in the Brazilian politics, this paper presents central characteristics of the electoral and party systems, and proposes a reflection on the potentialities and challenges of collective mandates. The data presented were collected in research reports, and websites of collective mandates and political parties. It was concluded that the composition of the collective mandates analyzed favors the representation of the diversity present in the Brazilian society, particularly in under-represented segments.