by John Fitzpatrick

The election of Severino Cavalcanti to the leadership of the House of Representatives is one of the lowest points in Brazilian democracy in the two decades since the armed forces gave up power. By filling the fourth most important constitutional post in the land with a provincial nonentity, best known for wanting to increase Congressmen´s pay, members of the Lower House have shown themselves to be unworthy of their office. At the same time, the government of President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva has shown itself to be more incompetent than even its fiercest detractor could have imagined. As for the electorate, it must also take its share of the blame since voters have consistently returned people like Cavalcanti to Brasilia. The main opposition party, the PSDB, is gloating.

Cavalcanti (74) is a member of the PP, a right-of-centre party best known as the home of Paulo Maluf, who faces allegations of embezzling millions of dollars during his term as mayor of São Paulo. In four decades of political activity, Cavalcanti has been a member of eight parties, including the pro-military Arena set up after the 1964 coup. He is a conservative Catholic from the interior of Pernambuco, which is also Lula´s home state. While he is not as openly corrupt and despotic as other politicians we could mention, he is a depressingly familiar example of a certain kind of Northeastern politician.

According to the Brazilian press, he has never pushed a single bill through in 10 years´ membership of the House. He has also been accused of nepotism and passing rubber checks. He admits to keeping large sums of cash in hand, since he does not want banks to make money from it. This is not a convincing answer in a crime-ridden country like Brazil where no-one carries large sums on their person. Politicians with large amounts of cash are immediately suspect, since cash is untraceable and is often used as payouts for behind-the-scene favors. Roseanne Sarney, who was favored as Brazil´s first female president three years ago, has still not recovered from the discovery of around R$1.3 million in R$50 notes in a safe belonging to a company of which she was a part owner.    

Money is obviously on Cavalcanti´s mind since he said, in a press conference after his election, that he would raise representatives´ salaries by 70% to around R$21,500 (about US$ 7,000). This might not seem a lot to an American reader but the minimum monthly wage in Brazil is around US$100. Other perks he will push for include 90 days´ paid holiday and a car, all at the taxpayer´s expense. He mentioned other things, such as his opposition to independence for the Central Bank and called for the political system to be altered with presidential elections coinciding with state governor and mayoral elections. Since this last issue is not even on the agenda, one assumes Cavalcanti is already trying to sidestep the constitution and get himself re-elected.

PT Failure
The PT´s failure is seen in the figures – 300 voted for Cavalcanti and only 195 for its official candidate, Luiz Eduardo Greenhalgh. The defeat is exacerbated by the fact that the PT did not even nominate candidates for any of the other positions on the seven-member Board of Directors known as the “mesa’ or “table, which sets business. By putting all its eggs in one basket in attempt to buy off the opposition the PT now has no-one who can set or, if needs be, hold up the agenda.

In any case, for good or bad, Lula faces the prospect of Cavalcanti and his “mesa” setting the agenda in the Lower House for the next two years. He will have to work with him just as he – and his predecessor, Fernando Henrique Cardoso - has to work with other insalubrious characters. The country will muddle through for another couple of years with votes requiring the usual backroom deals and any progress being made at glacially slow pace.     

The fault lies squarely at the PT´s and the  government´s door. The House and Senate leaders are chosen by their respective chambers every two years. Traditionally they go to a member of the party with the largest contingent. In the case of the Lower House, the Workers Party (PT) is the biggest party and held the position. At the same time, the PT has formed such a wide-ranging coalition government that, in theory, it should have had a majority. The PFL and PSDB are the only heavyweight parties which are members of the opposition. However, Greenhalgh, a São Paulo lawyer, was widely unpopular. He was pilloried by the press which did not like his stated sympathies for the landless peasant movement, the MST, his record of human rights activism and his period as deputy mayor of São Paulo during the mandate of leftist mayor, Luiza Erundina a decade ago.

Some of this criticism was a bit unfair and merely reflected the Brazilian middle class´s MST-phobia. However, at a time when the land issue was becoming more serious, the government was foolish to choose someone like Greenhalgh for such a sensitive position. The recent spate of murders, including the American-born missionary, Dorothy Stang, in the Amazon state of Pará shows how stubbornly troublesome this issue is.

It was not just representatives of landowners and farmers who were against Greenhalgh but most PT members. One PT member, Virgilio Guimarães, even stood against Greenhalgh and refused to step down despite threats made against him by the government. In the end there were six candidates for an election which should have been a formality. Instead of formality we had farce with an electoral campaign inside the Congress  building, complete with hoardings, banners and pretty girls handing out leaflets.

Various reasons have been put forward for this disastrous performance. The PT has been accused of acting dictatorially with the other parties and keeping too much power to itself. This may be true but since the other allied parties are themselves only interested in gaining positions and influence, no-one will shed tears for them. The sad truth is that Brazilian politics operate in this way and the PT has obviously not shared out the cake as “fairly” as its so-called allies want. The PT also played the game of “musical chairs” by persuading politicians to switch parties and make up numbers. This situation in which elected representatives jump from one party to another and sometimes back again is one of the biggest problems facing the country. Around 50 members swapped allegiances in the last days of January and first weeks of February. 

By contrast, the contest for the Senate was a done deal with one candidate, Renan Calheiros (PMDB), who won overwhelmingly. Ironically, it was the Senate race which appeared to be more problematic last year when the incumbent leader, ex-President Jose Sarney, indicated that he wanted to stay on. However, this was resolved smoothly and the PT is comfortably hedged in the Senate where it holds the deputy leadership. This smooth transitions does not mean much though. One of the Senate´s first acts was to appoint Antonio Carlos Magalhães as chairman of the Justice and Constitution  Committee. As regular readers will recall, ACM, and he is known, resigned as Senate leader in 2001 after breaking the rules of the very institution he was supposed to serve and defend.  

February 23, 2005

(c) John Fitzpatrick 2005