Federal government of Brazil
Federal Government of Brazil Governo Federal | |
---|---|
Nereu Ramos Palace | |
Upper house | |
Name | Federal Senate |
Presiding officer | Rodrigo Pacheco, President of the Senate |
Appointer | Two-round system |
Lower house | |
Name | Chamber of Deputies |
Presiding officer | Arthur Lira, President of the Chamber |
Appointer | Two-round system |
Executive branch | |
Head of State and Government | |
Title | President |
Currently | Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva |
Appointer | Two-round direct election |
Cabinet | |
Name | Cabinet of Brazil |
Current cabinet | Second cabinet of Lula da Silva |
Leader | President |
Deputy leader | Vice President |
Appointer | President |
Headquarters | Planalto Palace |
Ministries | 37 |
Judicial branch | |
Name | Judiciary of Brazil |
Courts | Courts of Justice |
Supreme Federal Court | |
Chief judge | Luís Roberto Barroso |
Seat | Supreme Federal Court Palace |
The Federal Government of Brazil (Governo Federal) is the national government of the
Division of powers
Brazil is a federal presidential constitutional republic, which is based on a representative democracy. The federal government has three independent branches: executive, legislative, and judicial.
The
Executive branch
Office | Name | Party | Since |
---|---|---|---|
President of the Republic | Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva | Workers' Party | 1 January 2023 |
Vice President of the Republic | Geraldo Alckmin | Brazilian Socialist Party | 1 January 2023 |
Legislative branch
The bicameral National Congress (Congresso Nacional) consists of:
- The States and the Federal District, elected according to the principle of majorityto serve eight-year terms. One-third are elected after a four-year period and two-thirds are elected after the next four-year period.
- The Chamber of Deputies (Câmara dos Deputados), which has 513 seats. Federal deputies are elected by proportional representationto 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 in Congress. Since it is common for politicians to switch parties, the proportion of congressional seats held by particular parties changes regularly. To avoid that, the Supreme Federal Court ruled in 2007 that the term belongs to the parties, and not to the representatives.
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The National Congress building
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Federal Senate of Brazil, the upper house
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Chamber of Deputies of Brazil, the lower house
Judicial branch
Brazilian courts function under civil law adversarial 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 after
Federal judicial branch
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 as
Superior Courts
There are two national superior courts that grant
The STJ grants a Special Appeal (Recurso Especial) when a judgment of a court of the second instance offends a federal
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 of habeas 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 of habeas corpus.
See also
External links
- Official website of the Presidency of Brazil (in Portuguese)