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36-510: The term has its origin in the 1987 Constituent Assembly , being used to designate a group of parties with a center-right profile that united to support then-president José Sarney with the objective of fighting the proposals of Ulysses Guimarães ' supporters — accused of being progressive — for the text of the new Constitution. Five parties made up the centrão at that time: the PFL , PL , PDS , PDC  [ pt ] and PTB , as well as parts of

72-401: A range of politicians from conservatives such as José Sarney to liberals such as Pedro Simon , leftists like Roberto Requião , populists like Íris Resende , nationalists like Orestes Quércia and the former guerrilla movement MR-8 . In 1985, party leader Tancredo Neves won the presidential election, but died before taking office. His running mate José Sarney , who had recently joined

108-491: A rebranding. The group which remained reorganized the old MDB as the Brazilian Democratic Movement Party ( Portuguese : Partido do Movimento Democrático Brasileiro ; PMDB). The MDB had been a big tent party uniting nearly all of the opposition to the military dictatorship. As such, it harboured elements ranging across the political spectrum. PMDB had a similar character to its predecessor, including

144-715: A warning that rebel parliamentarians, especially the senator from Paraná, Roberto Requião, strongly associated with the Brazilian nationalist left (and who eventually left the party in the summer of 2021 and eventually joined the Workers' Party ), and even Renan Calheiros , the President of the Federal Senate , considered one of the most powerful personalities of Brazilian politics, but who shows little alignment with Temer's government and propositions of economic liberalism, can be excluded from

180-644: The Chamber of Deputies , with the influence of presidential candidate Jair Bolsonaro , the PSL managed to elect 52 federal deputies, which caused a considerable change in the composition of the Chamber. The MDB , until then the leader of the bloc, lost almost half of its seats compared to the 2014 election (from 66 to 34). The centrists have reorganized themselves around the figures of congressman and mayor Rodrigo Maia ( DEM - RJ ), majority leader Aguinaldo Ribeiro ( PP - PB ), and

216-583: The Democratic Social Party (PDS). Many of the MDB left into multiple new opposition parties such as the Democratic Labour Party (PDT), Brazilian Labour Party (PTB) and the Workers' Party (PT). Even though the country was redemocratizing, the military government sought to weaken the future successor of the MDB by demanding that new parties have "Party" on their official designations, thus forcing

252-503: The PMDB . The centrist congressmen managed to change the way the text was approved by negotiating support in exchange for positions and benefits. On June 2, 1988, they also managed to approve Sarney's five-year term. The centrão would gain prominence again with the formation of the " blocão " (big bloc), a group created in 2014 by Eduardo Cunha , then leader of the PMDB, due to the dissatisfaction of

288-505: The centrão to get more time for electoral propaganda. After the elections, one of the parties of the centrão , the MDB (formerly PMDB), had a reduction in Federal Senate seats. The former president, Eunício Oliveira , came third in Ceará , Senator Edison Lobão , and former Ministers of Mines and Energy , Garibaldi Alves , former Minister of Tourism , and Romero Jucá did not get reelected. In

324-558: The presidency of the Chamber of Deputies in February 2015. The group would become the main political force in the Chamber of Deputies and a grouping for the so-called " BBB Bench ". From then on, the centrão would play a key role in the impeachment of Dilma Rousseff , removed from office in May 2016, and in making important decisions for the Michel Temer government  [ pt ] . During

360-516: The Chamber of Deputies and 19 out of 81 seats in the Senate, making it one of the biggest parties in Brazil. The party decided not to launch a candidate for the 2006 presidential election in order to be free to join any coalition in the states. Under Brazilian electoral law then, parties launching presidential candidates could not form alliances at the state level that differed at the national level (this norm

396-537: The MDB. Essentially, the MDB comprised nearly all of the Brazilian Labour Party and the main body of the Social Democratic Party . For much of the first decade-and-a-half of the military dictatorship, ARENA had large majorities in the federal and state legislatures, and the MDB was virtually powerless. Since the president was indirectly elected by Congress, ARENA's candidate—in practice, selected by

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432-656: The PMDB senators "the parliamentarians most devoted to the group's interests", but also those "who asked for the highest contributions". The original MDB was founded as a legal, civil movement of opposition to Brazilian military government . Without a clear program except the democratization of the country, the party was an umbrella of opponents of military regime, ranging from liberal conservatives and Christian democrats from parties like Christian Democratic Party and Social Democratic Party to former labourists, socialists and communists, of Brazilian Labour Party , Brazilian Socialist Party and Brazilian Communist Party . With

468-455: The agrarian policy and the role of the Armed Forces. This article about government in Brazil is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . Brazilian Democratic Movement The Brazilian Democratic Movement ( Portuguese : Movimento Democrático Brasileiro , MDB ) is a Brazilian political party. It is considered a " big tent party " and it is one of the parties with

504-503: The character of the party from a catch-all party to a centrist one with a visible centre-right tendency. The party denied the centre-right character or any strict adherence to any political ideology. The party maintains that it is an open party for any and all Brazilians committed to democracy. The party's programme from 2015 is based on the document "Bridge to the Future" detailing the measures to be taken to modernise Brazil, including reform of

540-575: The early 1980s the former members of the MDB created the Brazilian Democratic Movement Party (Portuguese: Partido do Movimento Democrático Brasileiro , PMDB ), the name by which the party was known until 2018. It was the party of former Presidents of Brazil Tancredo Neves , José Sarney , Itamar Franco and Michel Temer , as well providing support for the governments of Fernando Henrique Cardoso , Luíz Inácio Lula da Silva and Dilma Rousseff , as well as unofficial support for

576-568: The elected seats for a total of 20. It was somewhat weakened in other elections, winning 79 seats in the Chamber of Deputies (becoming the second largest party) and winning five state governorships. Notable PMDB members included: Wanderlei Silva , Tancredo Neves , Ulysses Guimarães , Itamar Franco , Orestes Quércia , Michel Temer , Anthony Garotinho , José Sarney , Renan Calheiros , Pedro Simon, Roberto Requião , Germano Rigotto , Paulo Skaf , Ramez Tebet, Marcelo Fortuna, Iris Rezende and Maguito Vilela. On 29 March 2016, PMDB announced that it

612-526: The government of Jair Bolsonaro . After the redemocratization of Brazil, MDB became a big tent party without a clear ideological program, seeking to have many members from various positions and different interest groups under its wing. As such, MDB has been criticized and accused of being a cronyistic "physiological party", aiming at ensuring proximity to the executive branch in order to guarantee advantages and allow them to distribute privileges through clientelistic networks . This has been shown by

648-608: The greatest representation throughout the national territory, with the most numbers of senators , mayors and city councillors , always having formed a large part of the National Congress since 1988, and also has the largest number of affiliates, with 2,043,709 members as of July 2023. Originally, the MDB was founded on 1965 as part of an enforced two party system by the Brazilian military dictatorship , providing an official, if controlled, opposition. With political opening, in

684-474: The group would act to block the two criminal charges against the president , avoid a probable removal from office, and approve his reforms through bargaining, such as the distribution of positions and promises of ministries, the release of parliamentary amendments, funds and bills , and other benefits. In the 2018 elections, the PSDB presidential candidate, Geraldo Alckmin , put together a coalition with parties from

720-545: The impeachment process the group would count on thirteen parties: PP , PR , PSD , PTB , PRB , PSC , PROS , SD , PEN , PTN  [ pt ] , PHS , PSL , and AVANTE ; all of them, except the SD, were part of the base of support to the Dilma Rousseff government  [ pt ] , and most of them had ministers in the PT governments. In Temer's government, on the other hand,

756-575: The leader of the Progressives , congressman Arthur Lira ( PP - AL ). In June 2020, Arthur published an article in Folha de S.Paulo describing the centrão as a moderating force and a guarantee of institutional predictability and governability. Due to the significant shrinking of the bench, the PSDB (from 54 to 29) is now part of the group, joining the Democrats . In May 2019, the Chamber of Deputies banned

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792-482: The military high command—could not possibly be defeated. The MDB did not even put forward candidates in the first post-coup elections, in 1966 and 1969. While the MDB did put forward presidential candidates in 1974 and 1978, they were soundly defeated. Starting in 1979, multipartyism was reintroduced to Brazil by the military government. A restricted number of parties were allowed and the two original parties were officially disbanded, with ARENA became officially known as

828-536: The new incarnation of Brazilian Socialist Party , Communist Party of Brazil and Democratic Labour Party . In 2009, the last left-wing section of the party abandoned it and formed the Free Fatherland Party , a far left party descending from the MR-8 guerrilla. Some strong leftists, however, like senator Roberto Requião , remained in the party, but more isolated and less powerful (Requião too would eventually leave

864-444: The original acronym was associated with the struggle for democracy , according to party leader, Romero Jucá . The party announced a program based on economic liberalism , fiscal conservatism and greater openness to sectors of civil society such as evangelicals and environmentalists. The party also made it clear that it will prioritize parliamentarians who agree with the new positions of the party, which has been interpreted by many as

900-414: The party after defecting from the political wing of the military, became president, serving until 1990. Up until 2016, he was the only president of Brazil to come from the party. In recent presidential elections the party has not run candidates of its own, preferring to focus on congressional and gubernatorial elections. At the legislative elections on 6 October 2002 , the party won 74 out of 513 seats in

936-719: The party in July 2021). Other powerful politicians within the party, like former Rio de Janeiro governor Sérgio Cabral Filho and senator Renan Calheiros , established a neutral political stance, sometimes described as " physiological " by critics. The left-wing loss was strong, and as such, the positions of those who left were replaced eventually by dissidents of centrist, centre-left and even right-wing parties, who joined to avoid falling out of power (as independent candidates are not allowed to run in elections in Brazil) and/or losing feuds with local or national party leadership. This replacement changed

972-459: The party. A few days earlier, Senator Kátia Abreu of Tocantins was expelled from the party for her support of the opposition, especially for her firm stance against the pension reform, as an alignment to the PT of whom she had been allied in the mandate of Dilma Rousseff. The PMDB is the Brazilian political party that received the most bribes from Odebrecht . The company's "institutional relations" manager, Melo Filho, says he can find among

1008-509: The redemocratization, many centrists and leftists left the party and joined other parties with more consistent ideologies. Many Christian democrats, social liberals and social democrats broke with the party in 1988 to form the Brazilian Social Democracy Party , led by Mario Covas , Fernando Henrique Cardoso , José Serra and Franco Montoro . Other PMDB members exited the party to more established left-wing parties, like

1044-461: The ruling base deputies with President Dilma Rousseff , who paid little attention to political articulation with the parliamentarians. The blocão brought together eight parties ( PSC , PP , PROS , PMDB , PTB , PR , and Solidarity ), which totaled 242 congressmen (47% of the Chamber). Cunha's influence over this group of deputies would result in his election  [ pt ] in first round to

1080-597: The support to multiple governing parties since the beginning of the Sixth Brazilian Republic . As such, the MDB has been considered one of the core members of the Centrão . Under military rule from 1965 to 1979, Brazil had a legally enforced two party system, with supporters of the regime gathered under the National Renewal Alliance Party (ARENA) umbrella, and the official opposition making up

1116-507: The use of the name " centrão " on Chamber radio and TV , as it considered the term pejorative. The following parties have generally been considered to be part of the centrão . Brazilian Constituent Assembly (1988) Minority (50) The 1988 Constituent Assembly ( Portuguese : Assembléia Constituinte de 1988 ), also known as the National Constituent Assembly ( Portuguese : Assembléia Nacional Constituinte )

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1152-518: Was formed by the Democratic Centre ( PMDB , PFL , PTB , PDS , and smaller parties), also known as "Big Centre" ( Centrão ). They were supported by the executive branch and represented conservative factions of the society, and had a decisive influence in the work of the Constituent and the outcome of important decisions, such as the duration of then President Sarney 's term , the maintenance of

1188-579: Was held in Brasília to establish Brazil 's new democratic Constitution after 21 years under military rule . In November 1986, general elections were held to elect the members of the constituent assembly , which took office on February 1, 1987. Ulysses Guimarães , from the Brazilian Democratic Movement Party of São Paulo , served as president of the Assembly. The majority in the Constituent Assembly

1224-432: Was leaving the coalition with the Workers' Party following accusations against President Dilma Rousseff and former president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva of corruption. The PMDB supported the impeachment process against Dilma Rousseff . After the impeachment process began, vice president Michel Temer formed a new center-right liberal coalition government with PSDB and other parties. He was confirmed as president as Dilma

1260-419: Was permanently removed from office by the Senate on August, 31st 2016, thus becoming the second Brazilian president to hail from PMDB. On 19 December 2017, the party reverted to its former name, Brazilian Democratic Movement ( Portuguese : Movimento Democrático Brasileiro , MDB). The move was seen as an attempt to renew party identity. The initials PMDB had become associated with corruption and cronyism, while

1296-451: Was subsequently repealed). At the congressional elections in October 2006, PMDB won 89 of 513 seats in the Chamber of Deputies, becoming its biggest party; and in the Senate it had 15 of the 81 seats after its one-third renovation, becoming the third-largest party. PMDB also won seven state gubernatorial elections in the same election. In 2010 , the party made gains in the Senate, winning 16 of

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