National Renewal Alliance

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
National Renewal Alliance
Aliança Renovadora Nacional
Party flag

The National Renewal Alliance (

military dictatorship that ruled Brazil from 1964 to 1985
.

ARENA was part of a

Liberal Front Party (PFL), current Brazil Union (UNIÃO), while PDS merged with the PDC in 1993 became the Reform Progressive Party (PPR), which became the current Progressives (PP) in 1995.[5]

History

Until 1965, there were three main parties in Brazil: the populist

Social Democratic Party (PSD) and the conservative National Democratic Union (UDN). In 1964, the government of President João Goulart was overthrown by a military coup d'etat, but in contrast to other Latin American dictatorships, the Brazilian military-controlled government did not abolish Congress. Instead, in 1965, the government banned all existing political parties and created a two-party system. ARENA, the pro-government party, was formed by politicians from the bulk of the UDN, the Social Progressive Party of Adhemar de Barros (a supporter of the coup) and the integralist Popular Representation Party, plus the most right-wing factions of the PSD, the National Labour Party and the Christian Democratic Party. The main body of the PSD joined most of the PTB in forming the Brazilian Democratic Movement
(MDB), the opposition.

ARENA had no real ideology other than support for the military, who used it mostly to rubber-stamp its agenda. In the elections of 1966 and 1970, ARENA won a vast majority of seats. Most agree that, at first, the MDB did not have any chance to pass or block any legislation. It also

rubber-stamped the military leadership's choice of president. Under the military's constitution, the president was nominally elected by an absolute majority of both chambers meeting in joint session. In practice, ARENA's majority was so massive that its candidate could not possibly be defeated. During most of the early part of the military regime, Brazil was, for all intents and purposes, a one-party state
. Indeed, during the first two elections under military rule, the MDB didn't even put up a presidential candidate.

However, ARENA was not completely subservient. For example, in the late 1968 President

Fifth Institutional Act, which allowed him to close Congress and rule by decree. Almost as soon as he signed AI-5 into law, Costa e Silva used its provisions to close Congress for almost two years, thus placing Brazil under a tight dictatorship.[6]

Despite the large volume of studies on the Brazilian military dictatorship, little is known about ARENA. There are historical doubts about the formation of the party, the reasons for the adhesion of most UDN members to ARENA, the ideological currents that permeated the ARENA party program and the extent to which ARENA was independent from the military.[citation needed]

In the 1974 legislative elections, MDB took many more seats than expected. It actually won a majority in the Senate, and came up just short of a majority in the Chamber of Deputies. The government reacted by decreeing the recess of the National Congress and editing on April 13, 1977 a set of constitutional amendments and decree-laws known as April Package (Pacote de Abril) which provided for the appointment of a third of senators, extended the presidential term to six years, restricted opposition power and even succeeded in annulling the mandates of some Congressmen of the MDB.[7]

In 1979, in a manoeuvre to divide the opposition, the government ended the bipartisan party system, and ARENA was dissolved when the new political parties law became effective on 20 December 1979.[4] In January 1980, most of ARENA's former members founded the Democratic Social Party (PDS) as a continuation of ARENA.

Electoral history

Presidential elections

Election Party candidate Running mate Electoral votes % Result
1966 Artur da Costa e Silva Pedro Aleixo 294 100% Elected Green tickY
1969 Emílio Garrastazu Médici Augusto Rademaker 293 100% Elected Green tickY
1974 Ernesto Geisel Adalberto Pereira dos Santos 400 84% Elected Green tickY
1978 João Figueiredo Aureliano Chaves 355 61.10% Elected Green tickY

Chamber of Deputies elections

Election Party leader Votes % Seats +/– Position Result
1966
 Artur da Costa e Silva 8,731,638 64.0%
277 / 409
 Increase 277 Increase 1st Supermajority government
1970
 Emílio Garrastazu Médici 10,867,814 69.5%
223 / 310
 Decrease 54 Steady 1st Supermajority government
1974
 Ernesto Geisel 11,866,599 52.2 %
203 / 364
 Decrease 20 Steady 1st Majority government
1978
 15,053,387 50.4%
231 / 422
 Increase 28 Steady 1st Majority government

Senate elections

Election Party leader Votes % Seats +/– Position Result
1966
 Artur da Costa e Silva 7,719,382 56.6%
19 / 23
 Increase 19 Increase 1st Supermajority
1970
 Emílio Garrastazu Médici 20,524,470 60.4%
40 / 46
 Increase 21 Steady 1st Supermajority
1974
 Ernesto Geisel 10,067,796 41.0%
6 / 22
 Decrease 34 Decrease 2nd Minority
1978
 13,116,194 42.9%
15 / 23
 Increase 5 Increase 1st Majority

Notorious members

Former members
Name Birth date Death date Relevant offices by ARENA Relevant offices by other parties
Artur da Costa e Silva 3 October 1899 17 December 1969
Humberto Castelo Branco 20 September 1897 18 July 1967
Emílio Garrastazu Médici 4 December 1905 9 October 1985
Ernesto Geisel 3 August 1907 12 September 1996
João Figueiredo 15 January 1918 24 December 1999
Pedro Aleixo 1 August 1901 3 March 1975
Aureliano Chaves 13 January 1929 30 April 2003
José Maria Alkmin 11 June 1901 22 April 1974
  • Minister of Finance (1956—1958, by PSD
    )
Adalberto Pereira dos Santos 11 April 1905 2 April 1984
José Sarney 24 April 1930 living
Antônio Carlos Magalhães 4 September 1927 20 July 2007
Paulo Maluf 3 September 1931 living
  • Federal Deputy for São Paulo (2007—2018, by Progressives, and 1983—1987, by PDS)
Jorge Kalume 3 December 1920 26 October 2010
Paulo Barreto Menezes 9 October 1925 15 February 2016
  • Governor of Sergipe (1971—1975, by ARENA)
Fernando Collor de Mello 12 August 1949 living
  • Act
    )
  • Governor of
    Act
    )
  • Senator for
    Act
    )
  • Federal Deputy for Alagoas (1983—1986, by PDS)
João Alves Filho 3 July 1941 24 November 2020
  • Mayor of Aracaju (2013—2017, by PFL, and 1975—1979, by ARENA)
José Maria Marin 6 May 1932 living
Omar Sabino 15 March 1975 15 March 1979
  • Vice Governor of Acre (1975—1979, by ARENA)
Vasco Azevedo Neto 25 February 1916 30 September 2010

References

  1. ^ Júnior, Olavo Brasil de Lima. "ALIANÇA RENOVADORA NACIONAL (Arena)". Atlas Histórico do Brasil - FGV CPDOC (in Portuguese). Retrieved 25 July 2023.
  2. ^ "Golpe de 1964: o que foi, contexto histórico, acontecimentos". Brasil Escola.
  3. ISBN 9788572448260
    .
  4. ^ a b "PRESIDÊNCIA DA REPÚBLICA". www.planalto.gov.br (in Portuguese). Retrieved 2020-07-28.
  5. ^ "PDF.js viewer" (PDF). www.tre-ba.jus.br. Retrieved 2022-11-04.
  6. ISBN 978-8521903161
    .
  7. ^ Paganine, Joseana (31 March 2017). "Há 40 anos, ditadura impunha Pacote de Abril e adiava abertura política". Federal Senate of Brazil (in Brazilian Portuguese). Retrieved 16 December 2021.
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=National_Renewal_Alliance&oldid=1219251747"