Democrats Democratas | |
|---|---|
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| Abbreviation | DEM |
| President | Antônio Carlos Magalhães Neto |
| Founded | January 24, 1985 (PFL) March 28, 2007 (DEM) |
| Dissolved | February 8, 2022 |
| Split from | Democratic Social Party |
| Merged into | Brazil Union |
| Headquarters | Senado Federal – Anexo I – 26º Andar, Sala 2602 –Brasília –DF |
| Youth wing | Juventude Democratas |
| Ideology | Liberal conservatism[1] Economic liberalism[2] Classical liberalism Christian democracy |
| Political position | Centre-right[3] |
| International affiliation | Centrist Democrat International[4] International Democrat Union (formerly)[5] |
| Regional affiliation | Union of Latin American Parties[6] Christian Democrat Organization of America[7] |
| Colors | Blue, green, white |
| Slogan | 'The Force of New Ideas' |
| TSE Identification Number | 25 |
TheDemocrats (Portuguese:Democratas,DEM) was acentre-right[8][9] political party in Brazil that merged with theSocial Liberal Party to found theBrazil Union in 2021. It was founded in 1985 under the name ofLiberal Front Party (Partido da Frente Liberal, PFL) from a dissidence of the defunctDemocratic Social Party (PDS), successor to theNational Renewal Alliance (ARENA), the official party during themilitary dictatorship of 1964–1985. It changed to its current name in 2007. The original name reflected the party's support offree market policies,[10] rather than the identification with international liberal parties. Instead, the party affiliated itself to the international federations ofChristian-democratic (CDI) and conservative parties (IDU). The Democrats' identification number is 25 and its colors are green, blue, and white.
In October 2021, the party announced its merger with theSocial Liberal Party into the newBrazil Union (Portuguese:União Brasil,UNIÃO) party.
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On January 24, 1985, DEM's direct predecessor, the Liberal Front Party (Partido da Frente Liberal – PFL), was founded by a dissident faction of theDemocratic Social Party (PDS), which had been founded in 1980 as the successor of theNational Renewal Alliance (ARENA), the former ruling party during the time ofmilitary dictatorship (1965–79). At the time, Brazil was under the effervescence that put an end to the military regime. In the previous year, a series of rallies known asDiretas Já gathered thousands of peoples in the streets of major cities to demand the direct election of the next President, as envisaged in theDante de Oliveira amendment, which was pending approval in the Congress. On January 10, 1984, PDS rejected supporting this proposition, but a pro-Diretas Já faction emerged within the party a few days later. On April 25, 1984, the Congress, besieged by Army officials, voted the amendment. It did not reach the required quorum for approval, due to the absence of 112 deputies from PDS.
After the attempts to have a direct election failed, discussions about the presidential succession turned to theNational Congress, which would elect the President indirectly in the following year. The pro-Diretas Já faction of PDS formed the Liberal Front, and decided to supportPMDB's candidateTancredo Neves against PDS'sPaulo Maluf, the official candidate of the military regime. With the support ofAureliano Chaves,Marco Maciel,Antônio Carlos Magalhães, andJorge Bornhausen, among other major dissidents from PDS, the Liberal Front namedJosé Sarney as Neves' running mate for the1985 presidential election. On January 15, 1985, the Neves/Sarney presidential ticket got 480 of the 686 votes available in the Congress (70% of the total). Nine days later, on January 24, 1985, the Liberal Front officially disbanded from PDS and formed the Liberal Front Party (PFL). With the death of Tancredo Neves on April 21, 1985, Sarney took office as president. Due to the same electoral law that forbade coalitions, Sarney was forced to join PMDB, of which he is still a member today. PFL, however, was a major ally of his government. His daughter,Roseana, was a member of PFL until 2006, when she was expelled from the party for supportingLuiz Inácio Lula da Silva.
In 1989,Aureliano Chaves was chosen as PFL's presidential candidate, but the weakness of his campaign made most leaders of the party to declare their support forNational Reconstruction Party (PRN)'s candidate,Fernando Collor, himself a former member of ARENA, PDS, and PMDB. PFL's senators, however, had masterminded the candidacy of businessman and television presenterSilvio Santos, a maneuver which had been hampered by theSuperior Electoral Court. An ally of Collor in the runoff election againstLuiz Inácio Lula da Silva, PFL participated in his government, and, even after hisimpeachment, it participated in the coalition that supportedItamar Franco's government. From 1994 to 1998, PFL supportedFernando Henrique Cardoso and thus secured the post of vice-president withMarco Maciel. Prior to the 2002 election, an operation led by theFederal Police in Maranhão undermined the presidential candidacy ofRoseana Sarney, leading to a rupture with the government.
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In thelegislative elections, on October 6, 2002, the party won 84 out of 513 seats in theChamber of Deputies and 14 out of 54 seats in theSenate. After this election, which saw the rise ofLula of thePT as president, PFL became an opposition party for the first time ever since the 1964 coup. The party reorganized its alliance with Cardoso'sPSDB to form the official opposition in the National Congress.
In the followinggeneral elections, held on October 1, 2006, the party won 65 seats in the Chamber of Deputies and 6 out of the 27 Senate seats up for election, making it the second largest party in the Senate. The party does not usually run presidential candidates, but does run gubernatorial candidates in several states. In the 2006 elections, the party lost several state governorships, but won the governorship of theFederal District. However, this governorship was later lost due to a corruption scandal in which Governor José Roberto Arruda was caught on tape receiving bribery from private companies.
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In 2007, the party rebranded and was renamed Democratas.
In the2010 elections, the party continued to suffer losses in the Parliament, losing 22 seats in the Chamber of Deputies, and 7 seats in the Senate. DEM was able to elect only two senators that year (Demóstenes Torres fromGoiás, andJosé Agripino Maia fromRio Grande do Norte), for a total of 6, falling from the second largest party in the Senate to the fourth. Its longest-serving member, former Vice PresidentMaciel, who had been first elected to the National Congress in 1966, was not re-elected.[11] On the other hand, DEM won the governorships of the states ofRio Grande do Norte andSanta Catarina, expanding its presence in state administrations.
The party lost over half of its votes when comparing the 2006 and 2010 Senate elections. In 2006, it had 21.6 million votes for the upper house, while in 2010 it had just 10.2 million votes. The decline was less sharp in the Chamber of Deputies elections, as it had 10.1 million votes in 2006, and 7.3 million in 2010. The decrease in DEM's voting was attributed to the rapid growth of thePT and its allies in the Northeast. In 1986, the party had won 36% of the votes for the Chamber in the Northeast, while in 2006 this was reduced to 17%.[12]
As a result of the decline in DEM's popularity, the party has considered merging with another major party, such as theBrazilian Democratic Movement Party (PMDB) or theBrazilian Social Democratic Party (PSDB). A possible merge with PMDB, however, has been rejected by most of DEM's leaders due to the fact that it is a member of theLulista alliance in the National Congress and in most local level administrations. In 2011, it suffered another decline in its membership whenSão Paulo mayorKassab founded theSocial Democratic Party (PSD) and took prominent DEM members such as SenatorKátia Abreu, Santa Catarina governorRaimundo Colombo, and former vice-presidential candidateIndio da Costa with him. PSD has 52 federal deputies and 2 senators, most of them former DEM members.
The DEM claimed to be an advocate of ethics, democracy, the exercise of human rights, themarket economy, andeconomic liberalism. It presented itself as a center-right party that supportedlaissez-fairecapitalism.[13]
In 2006, the party's former presidentJorge Bornhausen stated in an interview with Brazil's largest news magazineVeja, that the party should be consideredcentrist andsocially liberal.[14] However, other party leaders classified it as "internationally, closest toChristian democracy".
According to political scientist Jairo Nicolau, the name change was intended to crown a process of modernization inside the party.[15] "DEM was launched as a modern right-wing party, with a new program, and aimed at the urban middle classes; a kind ofConservative Party of the UK", he says.[15] This, according to him, explains the departure of founding members and the rise of younger leaders.[15] For instance,Jorge Bornhausen, which had been a member of UDN, retired from the presidency of the party to give place to federal deputyRodrigo Maia, son ofCésar Maia.[12] TheSanta Catarina section of the party was taken over by Bornhausen's own son, deputy Paulo Bornhausen.[12] In Bahia, ACM Neto took over the legacy of his grandfather,Antônio Carlos Magalhães.[12]
Internationally, the Democrats were affiliated with both theCentrist Democrat International and theInternational Democrat Union.[16][17]
Juventude Democratas was a nationwide doctrinal body of political action, of a political, cultural and social nature, part of the Democrats' organizational structure, with an indefinite duration. As a purpose, JDEM sought to disseminate the political doctrine adopted by the Democrats, in addition to encouraging the political participation of young people aiming at expanding the party's staff and training new leaders, supporting or promoting events, studies and research in the political, economic areas and social, aimed at disseminating, debating and discussing topics related to youth, their professional training and their development.[18]
Internationally, they were full members of theInternational Young Democrat Union.
National JDEM presidents:
| Election | Chamber of Deputies | Federal Senate | Role in government | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Votes | % | Seats | +/– | Votes | % | Seats | +/– | ||
| 1986 | 8,374,709 | 17.70% | 118 / 487 | New | N/A | N/A | 7 / 49 | New | Opposition |
| 1990 | 5,026,474 | 12.41% | 83 / 502 |  35 | N/A | N/A | 8 / 31 |  1 | Coalition |
| 1994 | 5,873,370 | 12.85% | 89 / 513 | 6 | 13,014,066 | 13.58% | 11 / 54 | 3 | Coalition |
| 1998 | 11,526,193 | 17.30% | 105 / 513 | 16 | 7,047,853 | 11.40% | 20 / 81 | 9 | Coalition |
| 2002 | 11,706,253 | 13.38% | 84 / 513 | 21 | 28,408,415 | 18.49% | 19 / 81 | 1 | Opposition |
| 2006 | 10,182,308 | 10.93% | 65 / 513 | 19 | 21,653,812 | 25.66% | 18 / 81 | 1 | Opposition |
| 2010 | 7,301,171 | 7.56% | 43 / 513 | 22 | 10,225,883 | 6.00% | 6 / 81 | 12 | Opposition |
| 2014 | 4,085,487 | 4.20% | 21 / 513 | 22 | 3,515,426 | 3.93% | 5 / 81 | 1 | Opposition (2014–2016) |
| Coalition (2016–2018) | |||||||||
| 2018 | 4,581,162 | 4.66% | 29 / 513 | 8 | 9,218,658 | 5.38% | 7 / 81 | 2 | Support |
| Sources: Georgetown University, Election Resources, Rio de Janeiro State University | |||||||||
| Preceded by | Numbers of Brazilian Official Political Parties 25 – DEM | Succeeded by |
