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Brazilian Regional Strength of the Parties
Regional Strength of the Parties
Within the basic government coalition--the
PFL (Liberal Front Party), the PSDB
(Brazilian Social Democracy Party), and the PTB
(Brazilian Labor Party)--the PFL is highly concentrated in the
Northeast
(Bahia
and Pernambuco), and the PSDB to a lesser degree in the Southeast
(São
Paulo and Minas
Gerais). Almost half of the PSDB deputies elected in the Northeast
came from Ceará; the PTB elected only two deputies from the
Northeast.
Those formally opposed to the new Cardoso
government, led by the Workers'
Party and PDT, are concentrated in the South
and Southeast. The Workers' Party became the second largest
delegation in the states of São Paulo and Rio
Grande do Sul in 1994, and slightly expanded its delegations
in the North, Northeast, and
Center-West (Centro-Oeste) regions. Although reduced from its
1990 size, the PDT remained the largest delegation in Rio
de Janeiro, but fell to fourth rank in Rio Grande do Sul, after
the PMDB (Brazilian Democratic Movement Party), Workers' Party,
and PPR (Progressive Renewal Party).
The PSB
(Brazilian Socialist Party) is highly concentrated in the Northeast;
nearly half of its fifteen deputies come from Pernambuco. The
PC do B (Communist Party of Brazil) is the only small party
to have elected deputies in all five regions of Brazil in 1994.
It presents a very dispersed pattern, with ten deputies elected
in nine states. The PC do B dominated student associations (university
and high
school) in almost all states and was able to mobilize these
young voters to concentrate their preferences on one or two PC do
B candidates in each state.
The delegations of the four parties considered potential allies
of the government are mostly concentrated in the North, Center-West,
and South. In 1994 the PMDB's two largest delegations came from
the Southeast (thirty-two) and Northeast (thirty). Nonetheless,
the PMDB was weakened in those regions in the 1994 elections, even
though it elected four of the nine Northeastern governors (Piauí,
Rio Grande do Norte, Alagoas, and Paraíba).
As a result of its electing three of the seven governors in the
North, the PPR elected the second largest delegation from that region.
Its second regional concentration was in the South, where it was
tied with the Workers' Party with twelve deputies. The PPR became
the second largest delegation in Rio de Janeiro with seven deputies.
Leading defeated coalitions in the runoffs in Goiás and Brasília,
the Progressive Party became the second largest delegation in the
Center-West, after the PMDB. Its best performances at the state
level were in Minas
Gerais (seven deputies) and in Paraná (six deputies).
Data as of April 1997
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