Aécio asks Temer for support to recreate the barrier clause.

Pedro Peduzzi, reporter for Agência Brasil - In a meeting with interim president Michel Temer, the president of the PSDB party, Senator Aécio Neves (MG), expressed his interest in creating a special commission in the National Congress with the objective of facilitating the discussion and processing of two points of the political reform: the end of proportional coalitions and the reestablishment of the barrier clause.

A barrier clause is a rule that prevents or restricts parliamentary functioning for parties that do not reach a certain percentage of votes. Approved by the National Congress in 1995 to be valid in the 2006 elections, it was deemed unconstitutional by the Supreme Federal Court (STF), on the grounds that it would harm small parties.

"Political parties need to represent a segment of society. Back then, before I was president of the Chamber, we approved a barrier clause that required political parties to have 5% of the votes for the Chamber, distributed in at least 9 states, and with at least 3% in each of those nine states. Now we are reducing that," said Aécio Neves today (27) after meeting with Temer.

Party fund

At the time the barrier clause was vetoed by the Supreme Federal Court (STF), the rule stipulated that parties with less than 5% of the national vote would not be entitled to party representation, could not nominate members to committees, nor would they be entitled to leadership or positions on the Board of Directors. They would also not be entitled to resources from the party fund and would have restricted airtime for electoral advertising on national radio and television networks.

Proportional coalitions, on the other hand, are those in which, during elections, a group of distinct parties join together to form an electoral quotient, and the number of seats obtained are distributed among the candidates with the most votes, regardless of their party affiliation.

"This means that, for example, in a local context, a representative from a far-right party might ally with a far-left ticket. Elected by the same votes, these parliamentarians will have absolutely antagonistic actions. So the voter who votes for a party with certain ideas suddenly brings to Congress a parliamentarian with a position antagonistic to their own. It's a matter of respecting the voter's vote," the senator argued.

Commission

According to him, Michel Temer was "very receptive" to the proposal to create a commission to discuss these two points. "I brought here the information that we will treat this issue as a priority," he added, saying that the reason for choosing these topics is due to "the feeling that they are the closest to achieving a majority," already counting on the agreement of the presidents of both parliamentary houses.

"The idea is to create the commission immediately after the end of the recess. I will resume these conversations so that next week we have the commission installed and the deadlines met. It is very important that the President of the Republic can help with the process, so that these two aspects are approved before the end of the year," Neves added.

Proportional coalitions are those in which, during elections, a group of distinct parties join together to form an electoral quotient, and the number of seats obtained are distributed among the candidates with the most votes, regardless of their party affiliation.

Sympathy

"This means that, in a local circumstance, a representative from a far-right party might ally with a far-left ticket. Elected by the same votes, these parliamentarians will have absolutely antagonistic actions. So, the voter who votes for a party with certain ideas suddenly brings to Congress a parliamentarian with a position antagonistic to their own. It's a matter of respecting the voter's vote," argued the senator.

According to Aécio Neves, Michel Temer was "very receptive" to the proposal to create a commission to discuss these two points.

"I brought the information that we will treat this issue as a priority," added the senator, stating that the reason for choosing these topics is due to "the feeling that they are the closest to achieving a majority," already counting on the agreement of the presidents of both parliamentary houses.

"The idea is to create the commission immediately after the end of the recess. I will resume these conversations so that, next week, we have the commission installed and the deadlines met. It is very important that the President of the Republic can help in the process, so that these two aspects are approved before the end of the year," concluded Aécio Neves.