The proposal for a mixed district voting system currently being debated in the Brazilian Congress is expected to strengthen party leaderships and increase the central power of party presidents, according to João Henrique Hummel. Speaking to WW, the executive director of Action Consultoria argued that this model would make entering politics progressively more expensive and increasingly dependent on established leaders.
Hummel emphasized that under this system, the presence of party leaders would grow stronger as they control the financial resources and national directories. He noted that the political reform implemented in 2018, which reduced the number of parties, already contributed to strengthening these leaderships, a trend that the mixed district vote would deepen. In the proposed model, half of the representatives would be elected through district voting while the other half would come from pre-established lists, thereby expanding the control of party elites over candidacies.
The specialist highlighted that the current political context favors the advancement of this proposal. A group of party leaders is actively seeking to consolidate their power, a movement driven by public political financing through the electoral fund and the party fund. Hummel pointed out that recent questions regarding parliamentary amendments, which previously granted more freedom to parliamentarians, alongside the involvement of some leaders in the Master scandal, have further motivated these figures to strengthen themselves through reform.
Regarding potential opposition, Hummel assessed that resistance to the proposal will not come solely from the PT and PL parties. Smaller parties that still have a chance of surviving in the current scenario are also expected to position themselves against this new voting model.
Sources: CNN Brasil.