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Brazil & Southern Cone - June 2009 (ISSN 1741-4431)
Another political reform proposal bites the dust
In late May congress rejected yet another government effort to
introduce a political reform project to the lower house, with smaller coalition
parties rejecting a proposal jointly put forward by the ruling PT and its main
coalition partner, the PMDB. This was at least the tenth time since the return
to democracy in 1985 that a government has tried and failed to introduce
political reform. Umpteen efforts have run up against a recalcitrant congress,
with political parties stubbornly unwilling to alter the status quo, which sees
small, local parties over-represented in parliament. Even the Lula
government, for all its popularity, and the backing of the largest political
party, the PMDB, cannot convince its allies to alter the system. Nothing
more will be done now until 2011.
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