Tucanos lead, by a wide margin, the list of donations in Minas Gerais.

Minas 247 - The Regional Electoral Court of Minas Gerais (TRE-MG) released the amounts donated by companies and individuals to political parties in the state last year. No surprise. The PSDB, the governor's party, leads by a wide margin. The lead was even greater in the election year (2010), when the PSDB had two strong candidates: Antonio Anastasia for re-election, the clear favorite, and Senator Aécio Neves – and, just as importantly, a likely presidential candidate in 2014.

Last year, as in previous years, the four parties that received the largest donations were PSDB, PT, PMDB, and PSB. The PSDB received R$ 1,9 million; the PT, R$ 1,1 million, a value slightly lower than the R$ 1,3 million received by the PMDB; the PSB, in turn, received "only" R$ 242 in 2011.

Things change, however, during election periods. In 2008, for example, the PSB jumped to second place, receiving, according to the TRE-MG (Regional Electoral Court of Minas Gerais), R$ 4,1 million from companies and individuals. This can be explained by the fact that the PSB is the party of the current mayor, Marcio Lacerda, who, in that year, appeared as the clear favorite to win, as he had the support of both PT (Workers' Party) and PSDB (Brazilian Social Democracy Party) members. 

The same thing happened with the 2010 general elections, but on a much larger scale. The PSDB's state directorate in Minas Gerais received R$ 39,9 million that year, more than six times that of the second-placed party, the PMDB, which received R$ 6,6 million. The PT, the PSDB's biggest rival in the country, earned "only" R$ 1,8 million during that period.

Regarding party spending, it totaled R$ 11,8 million last year, against revenues of R$ 12,8 million. The PSD, a newcomer to the list, had revenues of R$ 62 in 2011, against expenses of R$ 28. However, the data from the TRE-MG (Regional Electoral Court of Minas Gerais) is incomplete, as the PCO, PMN, PRTB, PSDC, PTC, and PTN parties did not submit their 2011 accounts within the correct timeframe.

See below a table with the donation amounts over the last five years: