Federal government of Brazil

Portuguese: Governo Federal do Brasil
Coat of arms of Brazil
Formation	15 November 1889 (1889-11-15)
Founding document	Constitution of Brazil
Jurisdiction	Brazil
Website	gov.br
Legislative branch
Legislature	National Congress
Meeting place	National Congress Palace
Executive branch
Leader	President of the Republic
Headquarters	Planalto Palace
Main organ	Cabinet
Departments	38
Judicial branch
Court	Supreme Federal Court
Seat	Supreme Federal Court Palace

TheFederal Government of Brazil (Governo Federal) is the national government of theFederative Republic of Brazil, a republic inSouth America divided into26 states and a federal district. The Brazilian federal government is divided into three branches: the executive, which is headed by thePresident and thecabinet; the legislative, whose powers are vested by theConstitution in theNational Congress; and the judiciary, whose powers are vested in nine organs, including theSupreme Federal Court and lower federal courts. The seat of the federal government is located inBrasília.

Brazil is afederalpresidential constitutional republic, which is based on arepresentative democracy. The federal government has three independentbranches: executive, legislative, and judicial.^[1]

TheFederal Constitution is thesupreme law of Brazil. It is the foundation and source of the legal authority underlying the existence of Brazil and the federal government. It provides the framework for the organization of the Brazilian government and for the relationship of the federal government to thestates, to citizens, and to all people within Brazil.^[1]

Executive power is exercised by the executive, headed by thePresident, advised by aCabinet of Ministers. The President is both thehead of state and thehead of government.Legislative power is vested upon theNational Congress, a two-chamber legislature comprising theFederal Senate and theChamber of Deputies.Judicial power is exercised by the judiciary, consisting of theSupreme Federal Court, theSuperior Court of Justice and otherSuperior Courts, theNational Justice Council and theregional federal courts.

• 
  1969–1974 (as president Artur Costa e Silva)
• 
  1974–1979 (as president Ernesto Geisel)
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  1979–1985 (as president João Figueiredo)
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  1985–1988 (as president José Sarney, 1st term)
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  1988–1990 (as president José Sarney, 2nd term)
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  1990–1992 (as president Fernando Collor)
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  1992–1995 (as president Itamar Franco)
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  1995–1997 (as president Fernando Henrique Cardoso, 1st term)
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  1997–1999 (as president Fernando Henrique Cardoso, 2nd term)
• 
  1999–2002 (as president Fernando Henrique Cardoso, 3rd term)
• 
  2003–2005 (as president Luís Inácio Lula da Silva, 1st term)
• 
  2005-2011 (as president Luís Inácio Lula da Silva, 2nd term)
• 
  2011–2015 (as president Dilma Rousseff, 1st term)
• 
  2015-2016 (as president Dilma Rousseff, 2nd term)
• 
  2016–2018 (as president Michel Temer)
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  2018–2023 (as president Jair Bolsonaro)
• 
  2023–2025 (as president Luís Inácio Lula da Silva, 3rd term, 1st half)
• 
  2025–present (as president Luís Inácio Lula da Silva, 3rd term, 2nd half)

The bicameralNational Congress (Congresso Nacional) consists of:^[2]

• TheFederal Senate (Senado Federal), which has 81 seats — three members from eachStates and theFederal District, elected according to the principle ofmajority to serve eight-year terms. One-third are elected after a four-year period and two-thirds are elected after the next four-year period.
• TheChamber of Deputies (Câmara dos Deputados), which has 513 seats. Federal deputies are elected byproportional representation to serve four-year terms.

There are no limits on the number of terms one may serve for either chamber. The seats are allotted proportionally to each state's population, but each state is eligible for a minimum of eight seats and a maximum of 70 seats. The result is a system weighted in favor of smaller states that are part of the Brazilian federation.

Currently, 15 political parties are represented inCongress.^{[citation needed]} Since it is common for politicians to switch parties, the proportion of congressional seats held by particular parties changes regularly. To avoid that, theSupreme Federal Court ruled in 2007 that the term belongs to the parties, and not to the representatives.^{[citation needed]}

• 
  TheNational Congress building
• 
  Federal Senate of Brazil, theupper house
• 
  Chamber of Deputies of Brazil, thelower house

Brazilian courts function undercivil lawadversarial system. The Judicial branch is organized in states' and federal systems with different jurisdictions.

The judges of the courts of the first instance take office afterpublic competitive examination. The second instance judges are promoted among the first instance judges. The Justices of the superior courts are appointed by the President for life and approved by the Senate. All the judges and justices must be graduated in law. Brazilian judges must retire at the age of 70.

The national territory is divided into five regions, which are composed of two or more states. Each region is divided into Judiciary Sections (Seções Judiciárias in Portuguese), coterminous with the territory of each state, and subdivided in Judiciary Subsections (Subseções Judiciárias), each with a territory that may not correspond to the states' comarcas.

The Judiciary subsections have federal courts of the first instance and each Region has a Federal Regional Tribunal (Tribunal Regional Federal) as a court of the second instance.

There are special federal court systems, in which such asLabour Court (Justiça do Trabalho) for labor or employment-related matters and disputes,Election Justice (Justiça Eleitoral) for electoral matters, andMilitary Justice (Justiça Militar) for martial criminal cases, each of them with its own courts.

There are two national superior courts that grantwrits ofcertiorari in civil and criminal cases: the Superior Justice Tribunal (Superior Tribunal de Justiça, STJ) and the federalsupreme court, called theSupreme Federal Court (Portuguese:Supremo Tribunal Federal).

The STJ grants a Special Appeal (Recurso Especial) when a judgment of a court of the second instance offends a federalstatute disposition, or when two or more second instance courts make different rulings on the same federal statute. There are parallel courts forlabor law,electoral law andmilitary law.

The STF grants Extraordinary Appeals (Recurso Extraordinário) when judgments of second instance courts violate the constitution. The STF is the last instance for the writ ofhabeas corpus and for reviews of judgments from the STJ.

The superior courts do not analyze any factual questions in their judgments, but only the application of the law and the constitution. Facts and evidence are judged by the courts of the second instance, except in specific cases such as writs ofhabeas corpus.

• Politics of Brazil

• Official website of the Presidency of Brazil(in Portuguese)

• Federal Government of Brazil

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