“Semi-presidentialism is a trick to prevent us from winning the elections” – Brazil’s ex-president Lula

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – Ex-president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (PT) on Tuesday (20) criticized recent debates on the possibility of Brazil adopting a semi-presidential system.

The change in the government system to give more power to Congress and create the figure of the prime minister from 2026 has been advocated by Chamber president Arthur Lira (PP-AL). Estadão newspaper has reported that the debate is a strategy aimed at easing the pressure for the opening of impeachment proceedings against president Jair Bolsonaro.

“Semi-presidentialism is another trick to try to prevent us from winning the elections,” Lula said to Jovem Pan radio. It is the ex-president’s first statement on the topic.

“You can’t play around with political reform, this is something that must be discussed very seriously. There are 32 parties and each one has a specific interest in the 2022 elections. Each one is interested in its own life, how much the electoral fund will yield… We need a reform in the country’s political mentality, to think about Brazil, and not about their own navels.”

The semi-presidential model maintains the figure of the president, elected by direct vote, but delegates the leadership of the government to the prime minister. It is the prime minister who appoints and leads the entire team, the so-called “Council of Ministers,” including even the Central Bank president.

Left-wing party members have interpreted the debate as a way to undermine Lula, who leads the polls for 2022.

“Impeachment without a crime, the 2018 electoral fraud, and semi-presidentialism are three parts of the same play. The victim is the same: popular sovereignty. Imagine Congress choosing the head of government,” said former São Paulo mayor Fernando Haddad.

The president of PT, deputy Gleisi Hoffmann, spoke in the same vein: “History teaches us to respect the people’s sovereignty. And in Brazil it is presidentialism that represents this. No more tricks,” she said.

History: in plebiscites, Brazilians chose presidentialism in 1963 and in 1993

Brazil has held two plebiscites – in 1963 and in 1993 – for the population to choose which political system they would live under. Non-presidential systems were rejected both times.

After the resignation of Jânio Quadros in 1961 due to pressure from groups opposed to the inauguration of João Goulart, Jânio’s vice-president, Congress implemented the parliamentary system to prevent political tensions from triggering a civil war.

Institutional Amendment No. 4, which temporarily established parliamentarianism in Brazil, provided for a plebiscite on whether to maintain this political system or return to presidentialism.

Of an electorate of 18 million people, 11.5 million voted in the plebiscite. The result determined the return to the presidential system by 9.4 million to 2 million votes.

In 1993, as provided for in the 1988 Constitution, a public consultation on the form of government was held after the re-democratization. The population was able to choose between a republican or monarchical regime, within a presidential or parliamentarian system.

With 55% of votes, presidentialism was confirmed as the majority choice. Parliamentarianism had 25% of the votes and monarchy 10%.