Federal Senate (Brazil)

Federal Senate Senado Federal
57th Legislature of the National Congress
Flag of the Federal Senate
Type
Type	Upper house of the National Congress of Brazil
Term limits	None
History
Founded	6 May 1826 (1826-05-06)
New session started	5 February 2024 (2024-02-05)
Leadership
President	Rodrigo Pacheco, PSD since 1 February 2021
Government Leader	Jaques Wagner, PT since 3 January 2023
Majority Leader	Renan Calheiros, MDB since 4 February 2021
Opposition Leader	Rogério Marinho, PL since 1 February 2023
Minority Leader	Ciro Nogueira, PP since 7 February 2023
Female Caucus Leader	Daniella Ribeiro, PSD since 30 March 2023
Structure
Seats	81
Political groups	Government (42)   PSD (15)   MDB (11)   PT (8)   PSB (5)   PDT (2)   Independent (1) Opposition (32)   PL (12)   PODE (7)   PP (6)   Republicans (4)   PSDB (2)   NOVO (1) Independents (7)   UNIÃO (7)
Length of term	8 years
Salary	R$ 33,763.00 (and benefits)[1]
Elections
Voting system	Plurality voting, alternating every four years between single-member elections (FPTP) and dual-member elections (block voting)
Last election	2 October 2022
Next election	4 October 2026
Meeting place
Senate plenary chamber National Congress building Brasília, Federal District, Brazil
Website
www.senado.leg.br

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15°47′59″S 47°51′51″W / 15.79972°S 47.86417°W / -15.79972; -47.86417

The Federal Senate (Portuguese: Senado Federal) is the upper house of the National Congress of Brazil. When created under the Imperial Constitution in 1824, it was based on the House of Lords of the British Parliament, but since the Proclamation of the Republic in 1889 and under the first republican Constitution the Federal Senate has resembled the United States Senate.

The current president of the Federal Senate is Rodrigo Pacheco, a member of the Social Democratic Party from Minas Gerais. He was elected in February 2021 for a two-year term and re-elected in February 2023 for another two-year term.

Membership

The Senate has 81 members, serving an eight-year term of office. There are three senators from each of the country's 27 federative units, the Federal District and the 26 states. Elections are staggered so that either a third or two-thirds of senators are up for election every four years. The most recent election took place in 2022, where one-third of the Senate was elected.

Elections are held under the first-past-the-post and block voting systems. In years when a third of members are up for election, voters can cast only one vote and the candidate who receives a plurality of votes within their state is elected. In years when two-thirds of members are up for election, voters can cast two votes. People can not vote for the same candidate twice, but each party can field up to two candidates in each state. The two highest-placed candidates in each state are elected.

History

The Federal Senate of Brazil was established as the Imperial Senate by the Constitution of 1824, first enacted after the Declaration of Independence. It was modelled on the House of Lords of the British Parliament.^[2]

Following independence, in 1822, Emperor Pedro I ordered the convocation of a Assembleia Geral Constituinte e Legislativa (Legislative and Constituent General Assembly) to draft the country's first Constitution. Following several disagreements with the elected deputies (which included representatives from present-day Uruguay, then part of the Brazilian Empire under the name of Província Cisplatina), the Emperor dissolved the Assembly. In 1824, Pedro I implemented the first Constitution which established a legislative branch with the Chamber of Deputies as the lower house, and the Senate as an upper house.

The first configuration of the Senate was a consulting body to the Emperor. Membership was for life and it was a place of great prestige, to which only a small part of the population could aspire. The original Senate had 50 members, representing all of the Empire's provinces, each with a number of senators proportional to its population. In addition to these elected senators, daughters and sons of the Emperor aged at least 25 were senators by right.

The elected members of the Senate had to be at least 40 years old and have an annual income of 800,000 contos-de-réis, which limited candidates to wealthy citizens. Voters also faced an income qualification. Voting in an election for the Senate was limited to male citizens with an annual income of at least 200,000 contos-de-réis. Those who qualified for this did not vote directly for senators; instead, they voted for candidates to be Senate electors. To be a Senate elector required an annual income of 400,000 contos-de-réis. Once elected, these electors would then vote for senator. The election itself would not result in a winner automatically. The three candidates receiving the most votes would make up what was called a "triple list", from which the Emperor would select one individual that would be considered "elected". The Emperor usually chose the candidate with the most votes, but it was within his discretion to select whichever of the three individuals listed.

Following the adoption of the 1824 Constitution, the first session of the Senate took place in May 1826. The Emperor had repeatedly delayed calling the first election, which had led to accusations that he would attempt to establish an absolutist government.

The Proclamation of the Republic in 1889 ended the Brazilian Empire in favor of the First Republic. The 1891 Constitution was then adopted, transforming Brazil's provinces into states and the Senate into an elected body. This was retained under later constitutions, including the current 1988 Constitution. Now known as the Federal Senate, it resembles the United States Senate in that each state has the same number of senators.

• 
  Palácio Conde dos Arcos, seat of the Imperial Senate in Rio de Janeiro, then Brazil's capital.
• 
  The Imperial Senate in session, 1888
• 
  Palácio Monroe, second seat of the Senate.
• 
  The Federal Senate in the National Congress building in Brasília, capital city of Brazil since 1960.
• 
  Exterior view of the Senate chamber.

Presiding Board

The current composition of the Mesa Diretora (Presiding Board) of the Federal Senate is as follows:

Composition

The current composition^[3] of the Senate (57th Legislature) is as follows:

Current senators

Standing committees

See also

• Federal institutions of Brazil
• Portal e-Cidadania

Notes

References

External links

• Official website of the Brazilian Senate (archived 15 June 2014)
• (in Portuguese) Photos 360° of the Brazilian Senate
• List of all Brazilian senators (1826–2011) (in Portuguese)