Author:

José Renato de Oliveira Silva

Abstract:

Party loyalty as a condition for holding elected office in Brazil was expressed in the previous constitutional order of 1967. The 1988 Federal Constitution, in turn, made no mention of such a requirement, which only came with Constitutional Amendment 111/2021. Consequently, the Supreme Federal Court, when asked to rule on the survival of this institution, repeatedly responded negatively, stating that the loss of an elected mandate due to party disaffiliation had no constitutional basis. In 2007, jurisprudence established that the ownership of elected mandates belonged to the political parties, and not to the candidates elected by their ranks. As a result, the Superior Electoral Court (TSE) issued Resolution 22.610/2007 regulating the loss of mandate due to party disaffiliation. Only in September 2015 did the National Congress approve, and the President of the Republic sanction and publish, Law No. 13,165, which finally expressly provided for the loss of mandate due to unjustified party disaffiliation. The purpose of this work is to conduct a critical analysis of the institutions of party loyalty – currently established as a requirement for guaranteeing the maintenance of elective offices under the proportional system – and of coalitions between parties in proportional elections, the latter finally vetoed by Constitutional Amendment 97/2017, whose coexistence had been generating conflicts and tensions for Brazilian democracy.