How much does an election cost?

Do you know how much a presidential election campaign costs? And a gubernatorial campaign in a state like São Paulo, Minas Gerais, or Rio de Janeiro? And a federal deputy? It's difficult to answer, but let's try. Behind the scenes, some PT barons confess that Lula's 2002 campaign reached R$ 500 million.

President Dilma's campaign spending in 2010 easily surpassed R$ 1 billion. The privilege of this fortune doesn't belong solely to the PT (Workers' Party); the PSDB (Brazilian Social Democracy Party) wasn't far behind, after all, the costs are almost the same, including "co-opting" allies. For a campaign to be victorious, it's necessary to have strong candidates in every state.

A competitive campaign for governor in São Paulo costs no less than R$ 150 million, and that amount can double depending on the competition. A campaign for federal deputy can reach R$ 15 million or more, although the honorable parliamentarian doesn't earn even half of that in a four-year term.

Obviously, the declared amounts are many times lower. Brazilian electoral law has become stricter in recent years, but the "unaccounted funds" are becoming more sophisticated to the same extent. When the rat's hiding place is discovered, it quickly looks for another.

The calculation made by the upright leaders is simple. If Brazil's GDP reached R$ 3,6 trillion, then it's not difficult to "raise" one, two, or three billion to pay the bills. Since the PT (Workers' Party) wasn't used to handling so much money, unlike the PSDB (Brazilian Social Democracy Party) and DEM (Democrats), who were already familiar with billions, scandals proliferated in the first years of Lula's presidency, reaching their peak with the Mensalão scandal. Ironically, in their defense, many PT members claim there was no Mensalão; a well-known party operator in the shadows of power told me that what existed was a "PINGADÃO," an electoral settling of accounts, the "unaccounted funds" in their version.

The PSDB (Brazilian Social Democracy Party) is not far behind in scandals, starting with privatizations, which were necessary, but the companies were sold at bargain prices to friends of the court. The most famous case is the telecommunications sector, which, incidentally, continues to this day to thrive on the benevolence of state regulation. In the national campaign, the PSDB also counts on the "strength" of the nation's richest state, São Paulo. If the candidate were Aécio Neves, Minas Gerais would also be able to "democratically" confront the PT (Workers' Party) in the race for the Reais (Brazilian currency) to get elected.

Biddings

Everything, as has always happened throughout human history, boils down to money and power. One of the pillars of campaign funds is the billions spent by the State on public works, purchases, and services. Companies and contractors invest in politicians with a chance of winning, only to profit later. The legal way this happens is through the Bidding Law, 8.666, ironically created to curb corruption. A billion-dollar bidding process begins with a tender document that, due to its complexity, is usually illegally drafted by highly specialized firms or by the companies themselves that will compete for it. This is because few public institutions have qualified employees to produce a "high-level" tender document. For example, a commission of five employees is convened—two saints and three devils seduced by easy money. The prevailing criterion is the technical one, therefore subjective, and price may come second, which allows for choosing who will win. The result of this grim story is a series of chaos, where only the taxpayers lose.

It starts with inflated prices, an industry of injunctions, delays in construction projects, increased costs everywhere, even to create more oversight bodies, more bureaucracy, and so on. The only ones who benefit are the public employees who work in this sector and almost never appear in the scandals. Politicians may come and go, but they remain, reigning in their workplaces as if they were fiefdoms. They don't even hide their gleaming cars in the garages of state institutions.

Just look at the garages of the ministries in Brasília to see for yourself. Other lucky ones are the most competent companies…in lobbying the illustrious leaders, who in turn enjoy the happiness of someone who wins the lottery thousands of times. Faced with this situation, the State spends more and more, therefore collecting more taxes, the economy grows less, education and health are of the lowest standard…and Brazilians are left to fend for themselves with the handouts from welfare programs, which, incidentally, should be more efficient for the real prosperity of those who benefit.

The Cachoeira Parliamentary Commission of Inquiry is yet another chapter in this sad story of the Brazilian electoral system. The question is whether the established powers will truly be able to change this reality. This system jeopardizes our democracy and the economic, political, and ethical development of society. Those who oppose this system may never come to power; and if they do, they become so bound by the commitments they have made that they will hardly be able to change anything.

Perhaps Dilma Rousseff still possesses the fighting spirit of the girl who traded the comfort and security of a middle-class family in Minas Gerais for the dream of a revolution for a better world. The difference is that the weapons are now different, more legitimate, and the possibility of change is real. Let's hope we are not disappointed once again. However, for this to happen, society needs to take action.
Your part. It's another opportunity for all of us to move forward and not limit ourselves to the pettiness of political disputes.

Article originally published in Pannunzio's Blog.

Francisco Câmpera is a journalist for Rede Bandeirantes de Televisão.