The new Parliament will be very fragmented

Outgoing Lula or his challenger, Geraldo Alckmin, the President who will emerge from the polls, at the end of the month at the Brazil, can hardly rely on a stable majority to govern and approve major reforms. The legislative elections, held Sunday at the same time as the presidential elections, did not the formations of the two candidates for the second round, the Party of workers (PT) and the Party of social democracy (PSDB) Brazilian to make a difference. The new Parliament will be very fragmented. Like the one that preceded it, indeed: the PT of Lula had to ally with small parties of centre-right in his first term as President. The Chamber of Deputies, elected by proportional representation, will be dominated by the centrists of the Party of the Brazilian democratic movement (PMDB), which won 14 seats to the election of 2002. This traditional party politics, which now brings together regional chiefs, remains deeply divided between two currents pro and anti-Lula. In the position of referee in political life, he does not hesitate to bargain its support in exchange for favors and key position in the administration. If it is not the PMDB, Lula will not rely on 223 deputies (out of a total of 513), against 257 previously.

An increase in the lower House, the PMDB is, however, stalled in the Senate, where a third of the seats was set last Sunday. He should lose the position of more great party for the benefit of the Conservatives of the Party of the Liberal front (PFL), which won 2 seats. The anti-Lula will so dominate the Senate, since the PSDB's Geraldo Alckmin also won 2 seats from 2002.

This heterogeneity of the Congress will make it even more complex approval of major reforms and amendments to the Constitution, which require a majority of 60 of the vote in both houses. Under seal a strong alliance with the PMDB, both Lula to Alckmin, once elected, remain hostages of alliances of circumstance.

"A contaminated Congress."

Despite the accusations of corruption against several of its members, the PT is doing not too evil. He won 2 seats in the House. In the Senate, he lost only one seat. And he resists rather well at the level of Governors: even if he had to abandon the Mato Grosso do Sul, Bahia, the largest state of the Nordeste has won. In Rio Grande Sul, the second round will reproduce the presidential duel between candidates from PSDB (Yeda Crusius) and the PT (Olívio Dutra).

Some politicians who were involved in corruption cases were not re-elected, but half a dozen members implicated in the bribery scandal have retained their seats and will continue to benefit from parliamentary immunity. "We will have a Congress contaminated by corruption", is concerned about Alvaro Dias, Member of Parliament for the opposition. Paulo Maluf, former Mayor of São Paulo in several corruption cases, regained a seat in the Chamber of Deputies. While former President Fernando Collor de Mello, deposed in 1992, was elected Senator for Alagoas, its state of Nordeste.