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Brazil - The Executive
The Executive
Executive-branch reorganizations are frequent in Brazil, as each
president seeks to impose his personal style and to incorporate
political bargains struck. President
Sarney expanded the cabinet to a record twenty-seven ministries.
His successor, President
Collor, embarked on a massive reorganization, reducing the number
of ministries to twelve, abolishing many agencies, and firing some
80,000 federal employees. In a reorganization of his cabinet in
early 1992, Collor was forced to dismember several ministries to
create new positions in an effort to enhance political support.
President Franco again expanded the cabinet to twenty-seven positions
in October 1992.
In January 1995, President
Cardoso installed a cabinet with twenty-two ministers and the
ministerial-rank chief of the Civil Household of the Presidency
and implemented several important changes (see fig. 12). The Cardoso
government charged the new head of the Joint Chiefs of Staff with
creating a ministry of defense by the end of 1995 (a target that
was not met). It also granted three ministerial positions--Planning,
Civil Household, and Finance--superior status in terms of coordinating
and monitoring the other nineteen. In addition, the government also
created a Political Council (Conselho Político) to coordinate
major political strategy and policy decisions. The council was composed
of the presidents of the parties supporting the government.
Since João Baptista de Oliveira Figueiredo (president, 1979-85),
most presidents have attempted to reduce and streamline the executive
branch. President Sarney reorganized the Administrative Department
of Public Service (Departamento Administrativo do Serviço
Público--DASP), created in the 1930s, into the Federal Administration
Secretariat (Secretaria de Administração Federal--SAF),
which Presidents Collor and Franco revamped. By 1994 the SAF had
achieved moderate success in consolidating the number of diverse
public-service career structures and salary differentials. Congress
passed a new executive-branch civil service law, the Single Judicial
Regime (Regime Jurídico Único--RJU), in December 1990.
In addition to the large number of state enterprises under government
control, the executive branch also includes many autonomous agencies
and financial institutions, such as the Bank of Brazil (Banco do
Brasil) and the Federal Savings Bank (Caixa Econômico Federal).
A president must be a native Brazilian over age thirty-five. From
1945 to 1979, presidents had five-year terms. Following President
Figueiredo's six-year term, the 1988 constitution again set the
term at five years, but the 1994 constitutional revision reduced
the mandate to four years. Although all of Brazil's constitutions
since 1891 have prohibited immediate reelection of presidents, governors,
and mayors, in June 1997 Congress approved an amendment allowing
reelection. Thus, President Cardoso and the twenty-seven governors
may stand for reelection in 1998, and the mayors elected in 1996
may be reelected in 2000.
The Brazilian president has the power to appoint some 48,000 confidence
positions, of which only ambassadors, higher-court judges, the solicitor
general, and Central Bank directors must have Senate approval. The
president may also use the line-item veto, impound appropriated
funds, issue decrees and provisional measures, initiate legislation,
and enact laws.
Until 1964 the president and vice president were elected on separate
tickets, which produced incompatible duos in 1950 and 1960. When
Vargas committed suicide in 1954 and Jânio Quadros (president,
January-August 1961) resigned in August 1961, the actions of their
vice presidents produced severe institutional crises, leading to
their respective ousters by military intervention. Since 1964 presidents
and vice presidents have been elected on a single ticket, indirectly
until 1989 and by direct popular vote in 1989 and 1994; a second
round takes place if a majority is needed.
The return to civilian rule in 1985 occasioned important roles
for vice presidents. President-elect Tancredo de Almeida Neves died
before taking office, and his vice president, José Sarney,
was allowed to complete his term. After President Collor was impeached
in 1992, his vice president, Itamar
Franco, completed his mandate. In the event that the president
and vice president become incapacitated, the line of succession
falls sequentially to the president of the Chamber of Deputies,
the president of the Senate, and the president of the Federal Supreme
Court (Supremo Tribunal Federal--STF). If less than half of the
mandate has been completed, a supplementary election must be called
within ninety days. If more than half the mandate has been completed,
the Congress elects a new president and vice president within thirty
days.
Data as of April 1997
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