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Eleições no Brasil | Como funciona o Sistema Eleitoral? — Transcript

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0:00To start off, it is important to
0:02understand what elections are. And an
0:05election is nothing more than a
0:07selection process where you, along with
0:10all other people who have the right to
0:13choose (called voters), actually go to
0:15the polls to vote for your
0:17representatives, who are simply
0:19candidates intended to represent the
0:22popular will. Elections can happen
0:25anywhere, from a student council or a
0:27condo board, to the presidency of the
0:30Republic of Brazil. And that is what we
0:32are discussing here, because we are on
0:34the eve of an election and we need to
0:36understand how this process works. In
0:39the case of Brazil, which is a
0:41presidential republic, we have the
0:44highest executive office as the
0:46President of the Republic, who is not
0:48only head of state, but also head of
0:50government. This is different, for
0:54example, from another country that
0:56might be a parliamentary republic, that
0:59is, where the head of state is the
1:01president, but the head of government
1:03is the chancellor, the speaker of the
1:05house, or even the prime minister. In
1:09the case of Brazil, we have been a
1:11presidential republic since 1889, when
1:13the monarchy ended. And we are also a
1:16republic because we have three clearly
1:18separated branches of power. We have
1:21the executive branch, the legislative
1:23branch, and the judicial branch. As
1:26voters, we only have the right to
1:28choose the first two branches, that is,
1:31the executive and the legislative,
1:33directly. The judiciary is chosen
1:36indirectly. Why? Because the
1:38representatives of the judiciary are
1:40chosen by those we ourselves elected in
1:43the legislative or the executive
1:45branches. Elections, it is important to
1:48emphasize, are the most beautiful and
1:50pure form of exercising democracy.
1:53Remembering that in a democracy there
1:55are elections, meaning there is the
1:57popular choice of your representatives,
1:59the representatives of the people. In
2:02flawed democracies or autocracies,
2:04there are either no elections, or the
2:07elections are conducted in a less than
2:09transparent way. I guarantee you that
2:11this is not the case in Brazil,
2:13fortunately, at least for now. And we
2:15also have direct elections in Brazil.
2:18Why? Because they can also be indirect,
2:21as is the case in the United States,
2:22right? In the case of Brazil, we choose
2:25our candidates and our representatives
2:27directly, while in the United States,
2:28it is not quite like that. Since the
2:31case of the United States is much more
2:33complex than ours, we won't talk about
2:35it, but if you want to know more about
2:37it, just leave a little comment there
2:38and we can make a video about it. Yes.
2:42In Brazil, voting is mandatory. This is
2:45to ensure the greatest possible popular
2:47participation. And it is mandatory from
2:50age 18 to 70. If a person is 17, they
2:54may or may not vote; in other words,
2:56they can choose if they want to vote.
3:01But to vote, you must always be
3:03registered with the Electoral Court;
3:05that is, you must have a document, the
3:08voter registration card, without which
3:10you cannot vote. It is important to
3:14emphasize that Brazil is a huge country
3:17, both in terms of territory, with over
3:208.5 million square kilometers, and
3:22population, with over 210 million
3:24inhabitants. So, it is to be expected
3:27that the elections are as robust as
3:30this enormous, wonderful country. To
3:33give you an idea, there are over 156
3:36million registered voters for the 2022
3:39elections, who will use over 577,000
3:42electronic ballot boxes to exercise
3:45their popular will. After all, there
3:50are over 28,000 candidates for
3:52president, senator, state deputy,
3:54federal deputy, and governor. And all
3:58of this is not free. After all, it
4:00involves a lot of people, a lot of
4:02infrastructure, and a lot of money. To
4:05give you an idea, there is nearly 5
4:07billion Brazilian reais just in public
4:09funding, not counting private funding
4:12from individuals who help finance the
4:14campaigns of all these candidates. And
4:18all this money, the nearly 5 billion
4:20reais in public funding, is divided
4:22among no less than 32 political parties
4:25. As you can see, it is a large volume
4:28of money used to fund the electoral
4:30process in Brazil. And this process is
4:33financed with both public and private
4:35money. Why does public money come in,
4:38and it's not a small amount of public
4:39money? This public money comes in
4:42precisely because that way we can
4:44better exercise democracy. After all,
4:47democracy costs money, and therefore,
4:49it gives candidates a better chance to
4:52share their proposals with as many
4:54people as possible. If we didn't have
4:57public funding, we would rely solely on
4:59private funding, which would favor the
5:01candidates who have the most money.
5:04Imagine, we would cease to be a
5:06democracy and become a plutocracy,
5:08which is when the wealthiest are the
5:10ones in charge. That's right.
5:13Furthermore, we must remember that this
5:15electoral process also relies on
5:17private money, but that private money
5:19can only come from the pockets of
5:21individuals, although in the recent
5:24past, corporations could also
5:25contribute. The problem is that legal
5:28entities, companies, don't vote, and
5:30therefore, if they contribute, they
5:32will contribute with some interest. And
5:34this interest can be illicit, meaning
5:37it can be contrary to the popular will.
5:39That is why it was recently prohibited,
5:42meaning companies can no longer
5:44contribute to the electoral process. In
5:47the legislative branch, you will vote
5:50for candidates for state deputy,
5:52federal deputy, and senator. Terms of
5:55office, except for senator, last 4
5:57years. In other words, you choose these
6:00state and federal deputies every 4
6:02years and you choose one or two
6:05senators every 4 years, because their
6:07term is 8 years and, therefore, every 4
6:10years you have the rotation of one or
6:12two senators. This year, only one
6:14senator is being chosen by the voters
6:17in each state. By the way, there are a
6:20total of 513 federal deputies who will
6:23be chosen proportionally to the
6:25population of each state, with a
6:27minimum of eight deputies for the least
6:30populous states and 70 for the most
6:32populous. In the case of senators, we
6:36have 81 senators, 81 seats in total,
6:38and each state has the right to a fixed
6:41number, which is three senators.
6:45Federal deputies will represent the
6:47will of their state from a popular
6:49perspective, while senators will
6:51represent the will of the state from a
6:53territorial perspective. And then you
6:57also have the state deputies. This
7:00varies for each of the states, but is
7:02always a number proportional to the
7:04population of those states as well. In
7:07other words, state legislative
7:09assemblies will have varying numbers of
7:12seats for state deputies. That depends
7:14on each of the states. Therefore, it is
7:17also important to remember that votes
7:19for the legislature, the elections for
7:21the legislature, are calculated
7:23proportionally. All this to make
7:25elections more transparent, fairer. And
7:28more representative of the popular will
7:31. We manage to conduct this
7:33proportional election by calculating an
7:35electoral quotient, which is nothing
7:38more than dividing the total number of
7:40valid votes by the number of seats for
7:42that specific office. For example, if
7:46we are calculating the electoral
7:48quotient for federal deputies, we will
7:50take the total number of valid votes
7:52for all federal deputies and divide it
7:54by 513, which is the number of seats
7:56that the office of federal deputy has.
7:59Then we will arrive at a number X that
8:01changes every election. Taking this
8:03number, we will divide the total number
8:06of votes that a party or coalition has
8:08by this number, which is the electoral
8:11quotient. With this division, we arrive
8:14at the party quotient, that is, the
8:16minimum number of votes a party needs
8:18to have to hold a seat in the office
8:20being analyzed. For example, that of a
8:23federal deputy. If we have a number X
8:26of votes as the party quotient and the
8:28specific party we are analyzing has 4x
8:31votes, it will be entitled to four
8:33seats in that office. In this office,
8:36in this case, the office of federal
8:38deputy. And then it will distribute
8:40these four seats among the four
8:42candidates with the most votes. It is
8:45also important to say that this applies
8:47to state and federal deputies, but it
8:48does not apply to senators, especially
8:50because the number of senators is fixed
8:52per state. It is a number of three
8:55senators. In this case, for this
8:57election, we will only choose one of
8:58these three senators. And, therefore,
9:00the elections will not be proportional
9:02for the Senate, but rather for state
9:04and federal deputies. One of the
9:07problems of the proportional system is
9:09that of vote pullers, who are very
9:11popular people who tend to receive many
9:14more votes than the party quotient
9:16requires. Since all votes for a party's
9:20candidate go to the party, it then
9:22divides the number of seats it will
9:24have among the most voted candidates.
9:28If one candidate receives many votes
9:30and the runner-up receives few votes,
9:33but in total the party is entitled to
9:35two or three seats, it may end up
9:37electing two or three people who are
9:39not very popular and did not receive
9:41many votes. All because one person from
9:45the party received so many votes that
9:47they can be distributed to less voted
9:50people. This is a distortion of the
9:52system that ends up attracting many
9:54popular people to some specific parties
9:56. A state or federal deputy basically
10:00has the same functions. They are a
10:02legislator and an overseer. They
10:06legislate when they create law
10:08proposals or vote on law proposals that
10:10can become part of the state or
10:12country's legal system. And they will
10:17also oversee the application of the
10:19federal or state budget. It is
10:22important for us to understand that no
10:24decision is taken individually in the
10:26legislature, that is, they are
10:27negotiations that sometimes drag on for
10:30months so that a bill or a budget
10:31proposal is approved. Furthermore, we
10:35have to understand that as they are
10:37voting on laws or overseeing the budget
10:39, they are representing the popular
10:41will, because it was the popular will
10:43that put them there. Another important
10:48role of state or federal deputies is
10:50the oversight of the governor or the
10:52president, respectively. Look at how
10:55many important things a legislator has
10:57to do. And at the end of the day, we
10:59end up voting and don't even remember
11:01who we voted for in a legislative
11:02position, right? Senators, on the other
11:05hand, act as reviewers for the Chamber.
11:08The Chamber and the Senate together
11:11form the Congress and work in synergy.
11:15Beyond their role in reviewing what the
11:18Chamber decides, senators also
11:20represent not the popular will itself,
11:23but the interests of the states they
11:26represent. Remember I mentioned there
11:29are three senators for each state? Well
11:31, it's a fixed number, and each of
11:32those three senators from each state
11:34represents the state's interests
11:36collectively, rather than the interests
11:38of their own voters. In other words,
11:42while federal or state deputies may
11:44defend the agendas of the group of
11:46individuals who voted for them,
11:48senators must defend the collective
11:50interest of the state they represent.
11:53Furthermore, the Senate is considered
11:55the upper house of Congress, while the
11:57Chamber is considered the lower house
11:59of Congress. Since the Chamber of
12:02Deputies represents the popular will,
12:05the Speaker of the Chamber is third in
12:07the presidential line of succession.
12:11That is, if the president and
12:13vice-president cannot govern, even
12:15temporarily, the Speaker of the Chamber
12:17is the first to take over. The
12:20Brazilian electoral system is quite
12:22complex and has a number of distortions
12:24. Perhaps the main one is the huge
12:27number of blank and null votes, that is
12:29, invalid votes. This is because, let's
12:32remember, voting is mandatory for those
12:34between 18 and 70 years old. Many
12:38individuals have no desire to vote, but
12:40are forced to because if they don't,
12:42they have to justify it, pay fines, and
12:44fulfill a series of rituals required by
12:47the electoral justice, so they end up
12:49nullifying their vote or leaving it
12:51blank. This makes predicting the number
12:55of voters very difficult, precisely
12:57because we have over 150 million voters
12:59, but we don't know how many will
13:01actually result in valid votes. For
13:04that very reason, the party quotient is
13:07different in every election. Another
13:09issue is the lack of motivation to vote
13:11. One reason is that it is mandatory.
13:13And two, because people understand very
13:15little of the whole process. They do
13:17not properly understand how voting is
13:20proportional, how that proportionality
13:23is calculated, and therefore, they feel
13:25no desire to fulfill their obligation
13:28and their right to vote. And a third
13:31important issue is people's lack of
13:33partisan political identity, precisely
13:36because they perceive that we have too
13:38many parties—32 in total—and they
13:41are very similar in their ideologies,
13:43therefore they end up not adequately
13:46representing the popular will. Yeah,
13:49it's a system as complex as this
13:51country itself. We also cannot forget
13:54the executive elections, which in this
13:57year of 2022 will choose
13:58representatives for president and state
14:01governor. These elections also happen
14:05every 4 years, which is the term length
14:07for executive representatives, and they
14:10are decided by majority vote, meaning,
14:12obviously, whoever gets the most votes
14:15wins. By the way, it's important to say
14:19that for almost all executive positions
14:21, we will always have two rounds,
14:23meaning there are two rounds of voting.
14:27In one, all candidates compete, and in
14:29the second round, that is, the runoff,
14:31only the two most voted candidates will
14:34compete for the popular vote. And then
14:37we will have the definitive choice at
14:39the end of the second round. It is also
14:42important to say that for executive
14:45office, it is always possible to run
14:47for reelection, meaning the individual
14:50who is governing can run for a new 4-
14:53year term in office. After being
14:56reelected, they cannot run for a third
14:59consecutive term, but if they wait for
15:01one term, they can run for two more
15:03consecutive terms, if that's the case.
15:06The office of President of the Republic
15:08is the highest position in Brazilian
15:10politics. This is because they will be
15:12the head of the executive branch. And
15:14in the case of a presidential republic
15:16like Brazil's, they will occupy two
15:18important roles: head of government and
15:20head of state. As head of government,
15:25they will be responsible for
15:27implementing public policies, whether
15:29directly by themselves, presenting
15:31bills, or through their ministers, who
15:33are nothing less than representatives
15:35of their own will in each of the
15:37respective areas where the ministries
15:40operate, for example: health or
15:42education. Furthermore, the president
15:45also has the power to veto or sanction
15:47laws. In practice, it is the
15:49tie-breaking vote. When Congress passes
15:51a law, the final say is always with the
15:54President of the Republic. And so they
15:56can approve or reject this law
15:58partially. Of course, if they reject a
16:02law, it goes back to Congress, and if
16:04Congress really wants to pass that law,
16:06they can pass it again, and the second
16:08time it doesn't go through the
16:09president's hands; it's approved
16:11immediately. But that is a very
16:13difficult situation. Including as head
16:16of state, however, the president has
16:18the role of representing the nation
16:20before the international community. And
16:24here I include the nation's visits to
16:26other heads of state, the visits of
16:28other heads of state to the nation—
16:30meaning the president acts as host to
16:32other heads of state—or even
16:34representation at the United Nations.
16:37In fact, it is the president who gives
16:39the speech at the United Nations
16:41General Assembly. Look at how many
16:43important things. That is why it is
16:46important that we choose wisely who
16:48will represent us in all these matters.
16:51Presidents and governors may run for
16:53reelection, always with a maximum of
16:56two consecutive terms, unlike
16:58legislative candidates, who can be
17:01reelected indefinitely as long as they
17:04have popular support. Now, this all
17:07leads us to think about the advantage
17:10that someone who holds a current office
17:13has over someone who does not hold that
17:16office. This advantage is what we call
17:18the advantage of using the public
17:20machinery. Why? Because those in an
17:23elected office have access to the
17:25budget, and with access to the public
17:27budget, they can direct it to please as
17:29many voters as possible. In other words
17:32, they will have more of an advantage
17:34than those who are not yet in an
17:36elected office and, therefore, can also
17:38distort the electoral process. It is
17:41important for us to note this because
17:43many candidates currently holding
17:46elected offices will make use of this
17:48mechanism precisely to temporarily
17:50please their potential voters. In
17:54Brazil, we know, we cast our votes
17:56using electronic voting machines, which
17:59shouldn't have all the controversy that
18:01they carry. After all, this controversy
18:04is not justified by logic. Electronic
18:07voting machines are just an electronic
18:09way of counting votes, and that is why
18:11they are perfectly secure. After all,
18:14it is not just Brazil that uses
18:16electronic voting machines. In fact, we
18:18have more than 20 countries, including
18:20Canada, the United States, India, and
18:23even France, using electronic voting
18:25machines as well. In the case of Brazil
18:28, electronic voting machines have been
18:30used since 1996, and today practically
18:31every election will always use
18:33electronic voting machines. Except in
18:36the event of some failure. Remembering
18:38that it is much harder to rig votes in
18:40an electronic voting machine than in a
18:42paper ballot box. After all, anyone can
18:44put extra votes into a ballot box if
18:46they have access to it, in a paper
18:48ballot box. Now, with an electronic
18:50voting machine, you would need enormous
18:52sophistication. This sophistication is
18:54increased when you consider that all
18:56Brazilian electronic voting machines
18:58are disconnected from each other and
19:00also disconnected from the internet. In
19:02other words, it is not possible for you
19:04to carry out a collective hack of the
19:06machines. If it were possible to hack
19:08the ballot boxes, you would have to
19:10hack them one by one, which would be
19:12humanly impossible to rig an election
19:15on a large scale. Another important
19:17thing is that the votes are indeed
19:19auditable; in other words, you can get
19:21the individual result of each ballot
19:23box without having to do anything,
19:24without needing to go to a dark room at
19:26the TSE or anything like that. All
19:29ballot boxes have their individual
19:31results published on the TSE website
19:34itself after the election. And you can
19:37go there and, if you want, add up all
19:39of the more than 577,000 ballot boxes
19:42to reach the final vote tally.
19:44Therefore, electronic ballot boxes are
19:46perfectly secure, and it is not by
19:47chance that we have been using them for
19:49so long with such success. All this
19:51hearsay and false information about
19:53electronic ballot boxes is part of a
19:56larger package that we call fake news.
19:59Fake news is not a problem exclusive to
20:01Brazil. In fact, it doesn't even start
20:03here. It starts abroad, probably in the
20:06United States, and today it plagues a
20:07large part of the democratic process
20:09around the world. It wouldn't be any
20:11different here in the case of Brazil.
20:12And it's not just in these elections
20:14that we have been facing fake news. For
20:16some years now, we have seen fake news
20:18spreading, especially now that many
20:20people have access to mobile internet
20:22and, therefore, to information in real
20:25time, in a fast way. And, therefore, we
20:28will have much more exposure to this
20:30fake news. Fake news can be used to
20:34damage a candidate's image or to
20:36enhance a candidate's image, but always
20:38with lies. And it is important that we
20:41try to understand what is and what is
20:44not fake news. For this, it is
20:45important that you research, that you
20:47never trust information that comes from
20:50people, from individuals who may have
20:52an interest in changing your vote.
20:54Therefore, always double-check the
20:56information; in other words, receive
20:58the information, yes, but check it
21:01later on websites or even in specific
21:03places dedicated to debunking fake news
21:05. One of the easiest ways to do this is
21:09to verify suspicious news using Google.
21:12You type a snippet of the news into
21:14Google and check if there is already
21:16any fake news debunking site trying to
21:18identify it as a rumor, as a false
21:20story. It is important for you to
21:23understand that this is part of the
21:25process of exercising democracy and
21:26citizenship. In other words, fighting
21:28fake news is also an obligation for all
21:30of us. In fact, if you fight fake news,
21:34you are not only exercising your
21:36citizenship and exercising democracy,
21:38but you are also making life easier for
21:39the electoral justice system, which is
21:41responsible for organizing the entire
21:43electoral process in Brazil. It is
21:46responsible for everything from voter
21:48registration to the certification of
21:51election results. And it is also, as
21:53could be expected, under attack from
21:55fake news. Therefore, combating fake
21:58news is not only about making life
22:00easier for the electoral justice system
22:02, but also exercising democracy and
22:04citizenship, so we can have peaceful,
22:06secure, reliable, and transparent
22:08elections. That's it. I hope you used
22:11this lesson to better understand how
22:13Brazil's electoral system works, which
22:15is certainly not easy, it is quite
22:17complex. And if you are going to vote,
22:20I hope you do so with a clear
22:21conscience, especially since we learned
22:23the hard way that things can always get
22:25worse than they already are. Hmm. M.

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