Federal Senate (Brazil)

Membership

The Senate has 81 members, serving an eight-year term of office. There are three senators from each of the country's 27 federal units, the Federal District and the 26 states. Elections are staggered so that either one-third or two-thirds of senators in each federal unit are up for election every four years. The most recent election took place in 2022, where one-third of the Senate was elected.

Elections are held under the first-past-the-post and block voting systems. In years when a third of members are up for election, voters can cast only one vote and the candidate who receives a plurality of votes within their state is elected. In years when two-thirds of members are up for election, voters can cast two votes. People can not vote for the same candidate twice, but each party can field up to two candidates in each state. The two highest-placed candidates in each state are elected.

History

Following Brazil's independence, in 1822, Emperor Pedro I summoned the Legislative and Constituent General Assembly to draft the country's first Constitution. After several disagreements with the elected constituent deputies (which included representatives from present-day Uruguay, then a province of the Brazilian Empire) over the Emperor's role, he dissolved the Assembly in November 1823 and tasked his Council of State with drafting a new Constitution. The following year, he issued Brazil's first Constitution, which established the General Assembly as the country's legislative branch, with the Chamber of Deputies as the lower house, and the Senate as the upper house.

The Imperial Senate was modelled on the House of Lords of the British Parliament. It had 50 members, who served for life and represented the Empire's provinces, each with a number of senators proportional to their population. In addition to these elected senators, daughters and sons of the Emperor aged at least 25 were senators by right.

The elected members of the Senate had to be at least 40 years old and have an annual income of 800,000 contos-de-réis, which limited candidates to wealthy citizens and the landed aristocracy. Voters also faced an income qualification. Voting in an election for the Senate was limited to male citizens with an annual income of at least 200,000 contos-de-réis. Those who qualified for this did not vote directly for senators; instead, they voted for candidates to be Senate electors. To be a Senate elector required an annual income of 400,000 contos-de-réis. Once elected, these electors would then vote for senators. The election itself would not result in a winner automatically. The three candidates receiving the most votes would make up what was called a triple list, from which the Emperor would select one individual that would be considered elected. The Emperor usually chose the candidate with the most votes, but it was within his constitutional discretion to select whichever of the three individuals listed.

Following the adoption of the 1824 Constitution, the first session of the Senate took place in May 1826. The Emperor had repeatedly delayed calling the first election, which had led to accusations that he would attempt to establish an absolutist government.

The Proclamation of the Republic in 1889 ended the Brazilian Empire in favor of the First Republic. The 1891 Constitution was then adopted, transforming Brazil's provinces into states and removing the Senate's life tenure. This was retained under later constitutions, including the current 1988 Constitution. Now known as the Federal Senate, it resembles the United States Senate in that each state has the same number of senators.

Presiding Board

The current composition of the Mesa Diretora (Presiding Board) of the Federal Senate is as follows:

Party composition

The current party composition of the Senate (57th Legislature) is as follows: