Arthur Lira's Deputadocratic System

The defeat in the Chamber vote on the Sanitation Framework [3/5] raises concerns about the impasses and limitations of the Lula government stemming from a parliamentary representation system designed to prevent essential changes and trap Brazil in backwardness, conservatism, and reactionism.

The Brazilian system of government – ​​confirmed in the plebiscite of September 7, 1993 – is presidentialism.

In real life, however, the rule prevails. Deputadocratic system, in which the government is not fully controlled by the President of the Republic, but by Deputadocracy.

Deputadocracy [deputy + cracy], as described in article from 20/3/2023 [here], is what can be described as the A government of deputies, by deputies, and for deputies..

During the 2022 election campaign, President Lula denounced that "Bolsonaro has no power, he is a hostage of Congress. Bolsonaro doesn't even take care of the budget; Lira does, he's the one who releases the funds. The ministers call him, they don't call the President of the Republic."

It is likely that today, sitting in the presidential chair at the Planalto Palace, Lula may have realized that what he said about his predecessor also applies, relatively, to himself.

Deputadocracy violates the Constitution because it usurps powers, competencies, and prerogatives exclusive to the Executive Branch. Furthermore, it undermines popular sovereignty because it prevents the legitimately elected government from governing according to the program chosen at the polls.

O deputy Arthur Lira, head of the Deputadocracy with a mandate in office until 1/31/2024, explains the fraud against the spirit of the Constitution with a sophism: he says that today the country has "a Congress with broader powers" than in the recent past.

By "broader powers" we mean a substantial increase in the power of extortion and blackmail of the Deputadocracy over the Executive Branch.

This nefarious power, which Eduardo Cunha gave shape to through mandatory budgetIt became even more hypertrophied during the fascist-military government. The generals' party instituted the secret budget as payment for the complicity of congressmen in the impunity of Bolsonaro and the military, and in the brutal plundering of public funds.

The secret budget is an addictive drug. The more millions they receive and use from parliamentary amendments in their electoral districts and corruption schemes, the more budget funds these deputies want to grab. They become insatiable.

In the vote on the Sanitation Framework, of the 143 deputies from the MDB, PSD, and União Brasil parties – which control nine ministries in Lula's government – ​​only eight voted in favor of the government.

Lira has a very clear explanation for this. "A coalition government, with the exchange of ministries for support, has proven that it won't work," he said in an interview with the newspaper O Globo on April 30th – three days before the vote.

And then he gives the magic recipe for success: "amendments solve this without the need for a ministry."

The head of the congressional delegation downplays the legitimacy of Lula's victory, elected with 60.345.699 votes. In his view, Lula "was elected by a narrow margin of votes and you need to understand that we have an independent Central Bank, regulatory agencies, the State-Owned Enterprises Law and a Congress with broader powers".

By extension, Lira also does not recognize the legitimacy of the ministers of state appointed by the president of the Republic to execute the elected program. "As it stands, the parliamentarian is left empty-handed, and a minister, who receives no votes and does not go through a competitive process, is the one who decides how R$ 200 billion will be allocated to municipalities in Brazil," he stated.

Although he says that amendments are enough, and that a "ministry" is not necessary to satisfy the cravings of the congressional establishment, Lira himself has been very active in influencing the selection of ministers in Lula's government and in keeping his cousins ​​and cronies installed for several years, government after government, in Codevasf, Incra, CBTU and Dnocs.

Just like Lira, his loyal ally Elmar Nascimento, a congressman from União Brasil/BA who fiercely opposes the government, cannot accept that one of his cronyism, appointed by the previous government, should be dismissed from Codevasf in Bahia!

In the Deputadocratic system, it doesn't matter who is elected president of the Republic or what program was chosen at the polls, because it is the deputies who determine the course of the country – always in the direction of backwardness, conservatism, and the preservation of social inequalities and injustices.