Brazil’s party-performance threshold was introduced in 2017 to reduce the number of political parties. It contributed to six parties disappearing over its first five years and reduced the number represented in Congress. But party federations, created in 2021, and recent court rulings have stalled that trend: no party is expected to disappear after the latest election.
The rule requires parties to win a minimum share of votes or elect a specified number of federal deputies to qualify for political advertising on television and radio and receive the party fund. Elected representatives from parties that miss the threshold may leave without losing their mandates under the rules against party switching. The requirements rise at each election until 2030, when parties will need 3% of valid votes or 15 federal deputies elected across at least nine states.
After falling short in previous elections, PTB, PSC, PHS, PPL, PRP and Pros merged with or were absorbed by other parties. Some elected lawmakers also moved to larger parties. In the latest election, PDT, PRD, Solidariedade, PSOL, Rede Sustentabilidade and Avante initially failed to reach the required level, but each has explored another route to continue operating.
Solidariedade and PRD, which already form a federation, asked Brazil’s Superior Electoral Court (TSE) on the 16th to let Avante join them. They argue that the three parties’ combined votes would meet the threshold. Their request depends on a new interpretation: that votes should be assessed when the legislative term begins on February 1, rather than before the election. The Prosecutor General’s Office for Electoral Affairs supported that argument on Thursday the 29th. Two aides to TSE justices told Folha that the law does not bar changes to federations and that the proposal could find support at the court.
PSOL benefited from a separate TSE ruling. The party received more than 2.5% of the national vote for the Chamber of Deputies but missed the requirement to secure at least 1.5% in nine states. It cleared that mark in eight states, while its result in Espírito Santo was 1.4912%. The court unanimously ruled that the figure should be rounded to 1.5% under standards set by Brazil’s technical standards association, ABNT. The decision preserves the party’s access to public funding and broadcast advertising and removes a reason for lawmakers Erika Hilton and Natália Boulos to leave for the Workers’ Party (PT).
Another TSE decision has made lawmakers more cautious about switching parties, according to political figures. In 2023, the electoral court revoked Marcelo Lima’s mandate after he left Solidariedade for PSB, following Solidariedade’s incorporation of Pros, which brought the party above the threshold.
PDT is the only party with elected deputies still discussing its next move. Its party leadership has authority to negotiate a federation or merger, with a federation with PSB the preferred option. The newly created Missão, which elected one federal deputy, Kim Kataguiri, has decided to continue without broadcast advertising or party-fund money until the next election rather than join another group. Novo and Rede have used the same approach in previous legislative terms.
Federations were adopted in 2022 by the Communist Party of Brazil (PC do B) and the Green Party (PV), which joined PT. Rede joined PSOL, while Cidadania formed a federation with PSDB. Members of a federation coordinate their electoral activity, but retain autonomy over party funds and can move to other alliances. The arrangement requires them to remain together through two elections, one national and one municipal; leaving early means losing party funds and being barred from joining another federation.
In practice, the restrictions have had more effect on elections than on day-to-day work in legislatures. Federation members generally vote independently, negotiate government positions separately and maintain separate offices and staff. There is no equivalent operating rule in the Senate. Lawyer Ezikelly Barros, who represented PRD at the Supreme Federal Court (STF) in a challenge to this practice, said some state assemblies and municipal councils have federation partners that act differently and even join separate parliamentary blocs. She said the STF found the practice unconstitutional, but the Electoral Justice system has yet to set rules for communicating that decision to legislatures.
A previous attempt to curb the number of parties was overturned by the courts in 2006. A threshold approved in 1995 was intended to take effect 11 years later, reducing broadcast time and party funding for groups that failed to win 5% of the federal deputy vote. It also would have denied them party offices in Congress and the right to form leadership groups that guide voting. The courts ruled at the time that the measure would result in the “massacre of minorities.”
Sources: Folha Poder.