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Politics of Brazil takes place in a framework of a Federal Presidential Representative Democratic Republic , whereby the President Of Brazil is both Head Of State and Head Of Government , and of a pluriform multi-party system. Executive Power is exercised by the government. Legislative Power is vested in both the Government and the two chambers of the National Congress . The Judiciary is independent of the executive and the legislature. Brazil is divided in 26 State s and a Federal District . SHORT POLITICAL HISTORY Throughout its history, Brazil has struggled to build a Democratic and egalitarian society, despite its origins as a Plantation colony and the strong influence of slavery. Old Republic See Also: History of Brazil (1889–1930) See Also: Café com leite In 1889 , marshal Deodoro Da Fonseca declared the republic, by a Coup D'état . Until 1930 , Brazilian republic was formally a democracy, although the power was concentrated in the hands of powerful land owners. Vargas years See Also: Getúlio Vargas See Also: Estado Novo (Brazil) In 1930 , a bloodless Coup led Getúlio Vargas to power. For about 15 years, he controlled the country's politics, with a brief three-year constitutional interregnum from 1934 to 1937. A longer, heavier regime, the ( Estado Novo ) had loose ties with European Fascism and spanned the years 1938 to 1945. Populist years See Also: History of Brazil (1945–1964) Like most of Latin America , Brazil experienced times of political instability after the Second World War. When Vargas was ousted from the presidency in another bloodless coup d'état, in 1945 , a new and modern constitution was passed and the country had its first experience with an effective and wide-spread democracy. But the mounting tension between populist politicians (like Vargas himself and, later, Janio Quadros ) and the right led to a crisis that ultimately brought up the military coup d'état in 1964 , now known to have been supported by the Central Intelligence Agency . Military dictatorship See Also: History of Brazil (1964–1985) Between 1964 and 1985 , Brazil was governed by the military in alliance with conservative sectors of the civilian economic and social elite. In contrast to other bureaucratic authoritarian regimes in the region, Brazil’s rulers maintained elections but reorganized the party system by reducing their number to two: a pro-regime party and another that acted as a magnet to dissidents. New Republic (1985-1990) See Also: José Sarney See Also: History of Brazil (1985–present) In 1985 , the military were defeated in an election according to the scheme they had set up -- as a consequence of the loss of political support among the elites. The opposition candidate, Tancredo Neves , was elected President, but did not take office before he died of natural causes. Fearing a political vacuum -- that might stifle the democratic effort -- Neves' supporters urged vice-president, José Sarney to take the oath and govern the country. Tancredo Neves had said that his election and the demise of military régime would create a "New Republic" and Sarney's term of government is often referred to by this name. Sarney's government was disastrous in almost every field. The ongoing . Collor government (1990-1992) See Also: Fernando Collor de Mello In 1989 Fernando Collor de Mello was elected president for the term from 1990-1994. The elections were marked by unanimous condemnation of José Sarney , with all candidates trying to keep distance from him. Collor made some very bold statements, like saying that the Brazilian industry (of which the Brazilians used to be very proud) was mostly obsolete and polluting or that defaulting the debt was equal to not paying the rent. He also took quite revolutionary measures, like reducing the number of ministeries to only 12 and naming Zélia Cardoso De Melo Minister of Economy (the highest position so far enjoyed by a woman in Brazil) or removing existing barriers to importing of goods. His inflation control plan was based on an attempt to control prices and a complicated currency conversion process that prevented people from cashing their bank accounts for 18 months. All of this made him quite unpopular and denied him support in the parliament that he needed since his own party held few seats. At the beginning of his third year in office, he resigned as a result of in a huge corruption scandal. The charges against him were later be dropped, some on mere technicalities, some for actually being irrelevant or false. Collor desperately tried to resist Impeachment by rallying the support of the youth and of the lower classes, but his call for help was answered by massive popular demonstrations, led mostly by students, demanding his resignation. Itamar government (1992-1994) See Also: Itamar Franco In 1992, the vice-president, Itamar Franco, took office as president and managed to evade the most feared consequences of Collor's downfall. He had to face a country with hyper-inflation, high levels of misery and unemployment. Far-left organizations were trying to turn the anti-Collor campaign into a wider revolutionary fight to overthrow the regime. Itamar finally granted full powers to his Minister of Economy, Fernando Henrique Cardoso, so the minister could launch the Plano Real , a new economic plan that seemed to be just the same as the many unsuccessful plan launched by Sarney, Collor and their military predecessor. But the Real was a success, and terminated inflation in a few months. Cardoso government (1995-2003) See Also: Fernando Henrique Cardoso In 1994 , Cardoso launched his Plano Real , a successful economic reform that managed to permanently rid the country of the excessive inflation that had plagued it for more than forty years. The plan consisted in replacing the discredited old currency ( Cruzeiro and Cruzeiro Real ) and pegging its value temporarily to the United States Dollar . Inflation – which had become a fact of Brazilian life – was cut dramatically, a change that the Brazilians took years to get used to. Because of the success of Plano Real, Cardoso was chosen by his party to run for president and, with the strong support of Franco, eventually won, beating Luis Inácio Lula Da Silva , who had emerged as the favorite only one year before. Cardoso's term was marked by other major changes in Brazilian politics and economy. Public services and state-owned companies were Privatized (some for values supposedly too cheap according to his adversaries), the strong Real made it easy to import goods, forcing Brazilian industry to modernize and compete (which had the side effect of causing many of them to be bought by foreign companies). During his first term, a constitutional amendment was passed to enable a sitting Executive chief to run for re-election, after which he again beat Lula in 1998. Lula government (2003-present) See Also: Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva In 2002 , on his fourth try, Lula was elected president. In part his victory was derived from the considerable unpopularity of Cardoso's second term, which failed to decrease the economic inequality, and in part from a softening of his and the party's radical stance, including a vice-presidential candidate from the Liberal Party , acceptance of an International Monetary Fund (IMF) accord agreed to by the previous government and a line of discourse friendly to the markets. Despite some achievements on solving part of the country's biggest problems, his term was plagued by multiple corruption scandals that rocked his cabinet, forcing some members to resign their posts. In 2006 Lula regained part of his popularity and ran for re-election. After almost winning on the first round, he won the run-off against Geraldo Alckmin from Brazilian Social Democracy Party (PSDB), by a 20 million votes margin. CONSTITUTION See Also: Constitution of Brazil Brazil has had seven Constitution s:
EXECUTIVE BRANCH
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