Suplicy defends 'recall' for politicians
Senator Eduardo Suplicy (PT-SP) defended a proposal for a referendum to revoke elected mandates, known as a 'recall' of politicians; "This proposal, which should have been considered long ago, gives more power to the people so that, in an organized way, they can demand that their representatives fulfill their campaign promises," he said.
From the Senate Agency - The proposal for a recall referendum on elected mandates - known as recall - was defended by Senator Eduardo Suplicy (PT-SP) in a statement this Thursday (4). In his assessment, recent popular demonstrations have revealed great dissatisfaction with the distance between voters and their representatives.
"Popular sovereignty can never be alienated or transferred, under penalty of disappearing. The so-called representatives of the people do not receive, even minimally, portions of supreme political power, but exercise their duties as delegates of the sovereign people, to whom they must account for their management," he stated.
Suplicy recalled that, in 2005, he presented a proposed amendment to the Constitution instituting recall elections for president, senator, and federal deputy. The parliamentarian cited political science doctrine and several articles of the Constitution to emphasize the relationship of trust that voters place in their elected officials.
"This proposal, which should have been considered long ago, gives more power to the people so that, in an organized way, they can demand that their representatives fulfill their campaign promises, because if they do not, society has the right to ask for the mandates back, to grant them to new political representatives, more in tune with the popular will," he said.
The senator drew attention to the United States, where recall elections were used to replace the governor of California, and to Venezuela, where then-President Hugo Chávez had his mandate confirmed by referendum. Suplicy said that in Brazil, several of the first republican state constitutions had instituted the popular recall of mandates.
Suplicy, who expressed concern about the loss of credibility of politicians, also said that the difficulty in holding a plebiscite in time to be valid for the 2014 election should not prevent a deeper debate in Congress on political reform.