1.8 Independence

7 September 1822 (from Portugal)

1.9 National holiday

Independence Day, 7 September (1822)

1.10 Constitution

5 October 1988

1.11 Legal system

Based on Roman codes; has not accepted compulsory ICJ jurisdiction.

1.12 Suffrage

Suffrage is voluntary between 16 and 18 years of age and over 70; compulsory over 18 and under 70 years of age. President, State governors and Mayors are elected in 2 turns. If no candidate wins with 51% or more of the votes, the first 2 candidates of the first turn go for second. Senate is elected in 1 turn, winner takes all. Deputies are elected by proportional elections, but with no list.

2 Executive branch

Head of State:

Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva(since 1 January 2003); Vice President José Alencar Gomes da Silva (since 1 January 2003); note - the president is both the chief of state and head of government

Head of government:

Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva(since 1 January 2003); Vice President José Alencar Gomes da Silva (since 1 January 2003); note - the president is both the chief of state and head of government

cabinet: Cabinet appointed by the president

2.1 Elections

President and vice president elected on the same ticket by popular vote for four-year terms; election last held October 2003(next to be held October 2007)

2.2 Election results

Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva elected president; percent of vote - 61,2%

3 Legislative branch

Bicameral National Congress or Congresso Nacional consists of the Federal Senate or Senado Federal (81 seats; three members from each state or federal district elected according to the principle of majority to serve eight-year terms; one-third elected after a four year period, two-thirds elected after the next four-year period) and the Chamber of Deputies or Cámara dos Deputados (513 seats; deputies are elected by proportional representation to serve four-year terms)

3.1 Elections

(Please get new data!)

Federal Senate - last held October 2002 for one-third of Senate (next to be held NA October 2002 for two-thirds of the Senate); Chamber of Deputies - last held 4 October 1998 (next to be held October 2007)

3.2 Election results

Federal Senate - percent of vote by party - NA%; seats by party - PMDB 27, PFL 20, PSDB 16, PT 7, PPB 5, PSB 3, PDT 2, PPS 1; Chamber of Deputies - percent of vote by party - NA%; seats by party - PFL 106, PSDB 99, PMDB 82, PPB 60, PT 58, PTB 31, PDT 25, PSB 19, PL 12, PCdoB 7, other 14

4 Judicial branch

Brazilian jurisdiction courts function under civil law and adversarial system. As occurs in the United States, the Judicial Branch are organized in states' and federal systems with different jurisdictions.

The judges of the courts of first instance take office after public competitive examinations . The second instance judges are promoted among the first instance judges. The Justices of the superior courts are appointed by President for life and approved by Senate. All the judges and justices must be graduated in law. Any Brazilian judge is compulsory retired at the age of 70 years old.

States' judicial branch

The state territory is divided into judicial districts named comarcas, which are composed by one or more cities, like American counties. Each comarca has at least one court of first instance. There are specialized courts of first instance for family litigation or bankruptcy in some cities and states. Judgments from theses district courts can be subject of judicial review by the courts of second instance .

Judgments of courts of first instance are usually made by only one judge. Brazilian judiciary system uses jury trials only for intentional crimes against the human life – like murder.

In the most part of the Brazilian states, there is only one court of second instance, named Justice Tribunal (Tribunal de Justiça in Portuguese). Some states, as São Paulo and Minas Gerais, have Courts of Appeals (Tribunal de Alçada in Portuguese) too, but with different jurisdiction. The highest court of a state is always the Justice Tribunal.

The second instance judgments are usually made by three judges, who, in the Justice Tribunals, are named desembargadores.

Federal judicial branch

The national territory is divided into six Regions, which are composed by one or more states. Each region is divided in Judiciary Sections (Seções Judiciárias in Portuguese) with a territory that may not correspond to the states comarcas.

The Judiciary Sections has federal courts of first instance and each Region has a Federal Regional Tribunal (Tribunal Regional Federal in Portuguese) as a court of second instance.

There is a special federal court system for labor litigations called Labor Justice (Justiça do Trabalho in Portuguese) with its own courts.

Superior Courts

There are two national superior courts that grant writs of certiorari in civil and criminal cases: the Superior Justice Tribunal (Superior Tribunal de Justiça in Portuguese), also know as STJ, and the Brazilian superior court called Supreme Federal Tribunal (Supremo Tribunal Federal in Portuguese), also know as STF.

STJ grants a Special Appeal (Recurso Especial in Portuguese) when a judgment of a court of second instance offends a federal statute disposition or when the second instance courts in two or more have decided in different ways about a same federal statute. There are courts similar to the STJ for labor law, electoral law and military law.

STF grants an Extraordinary Appeal (Recurso Extraordinário in Portuguese) when a judgment of a court of second instance offends a constitutional disposition. STF is the last instance for the writ of habeas corpus, including review of a judgment from the STJ.

The superior courts do not analyze any factual questions in their judgments, but only the application of law and constitution. Facts and evidences must be judged in last instance by the courts of second instance, except in very special cases like the writ of habeas corpus.

5 Political parties and leaders

Brazilian Democratic Movement Party or PMDB [Michel TEMER, president]; Brazilian Labor Party or PTB [Jose Carlos MARTINEZ, president]; Brazilian Social Democracy Party or PSDB [José ANIBAL Peres de Pontes, president]; Brazilian Socialist Party or PSB [Miguel ARRAES, president]; Brazilian Progressive Party or PPB [Paulo MALUF, president]; Communist Party of Brazil or PCdoB [Renato RABELO, president]; Democratic Labor Party or PDT [Carlos LUPI, president; (Leonel BRIZOLA, in memoriam)]; Liberal Front Party or PFL [Jorge BORNHAUSEN, president]; Liberal Party or PL [Valdemar COSTA Neto, president]; Popular Socialist Party or PPS [Roberto FREIRE, president]; Worker's Party or PT [Jose GENOÍNO, president]

6 Political pressure groups and leaders

Left wing of the Catholic Church, Landless Worker's Movement, and labor unions pressure the government for more intense reforms on taxation and land property, while rightist PFL and PSDB are critical of government's social and economic policies.

7 International organization participation

AfDB, BIS, CCC, ECLAC, FAO, G-11 , G-15 , G-19 , G-24 , G-77, IADB, IAEA, IBRD, ICAO, ICC, ICC, ICFTU, ICRM, IDA, IFAD, IFC, IFRCS, IHO, ILO, IMF, IMO, Inmarsat, Intelsat, Interpol, IOC, IOM (observer), ISO, ITU, LAES , LAIA, Mercosur, NAM (observer), NSG, OAS, OPANAL , OPCW, PCA, RG, UN, UNCTAD, UNESCO, UNHCR, UNIDO, UNMOP, UNTAET, UNU, UPU, WCL , WFTU, WHO, WIPO, WMO, WToO, WTrO

8 Flag description

Green with a large yellow diamond in the center bearing a blue celestial globe with 27 white five-pointed stars (one for each state and the Federal District) arranged in the same pattern as the night sky over Brazil on the 15th November 1889 (date of the proclamation of the Republic); the globe has a white equatorial band with the motto ORDEM E PROGRESSO (Order and Progress).

See also: Flag of Brazil

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See also : Brazil, café com leite, coronelismo, history of Brazil, Integralism

Brazil

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