The Brazil government operates as a republican form of government also called a federative republic, or federation of states. The central government is the federation and the states are the subdivisions within that government that maintain or support the federation.
The federal or central government handles larger issues like monetary policy, national defense and security, and anything else that would affect the country as a whole. Issues such as education, road repairs, and taxes are handled at the local level by the individual states.
It's similar to the United States in that the federal government ultimately has the final say, but the states are granted control over areas of government that affect their stated directly.
The Federation of Brazil consists of 26 individual states and one federal district. The federal district, or Distrito Federal, is home to Brasilia, the capital of Brazil. The states are also called Federative Units.
There are 21 different political parties within the country of Brazil.
The president is the head of the federation and is elected by the people every 4 years. As of the Constitution of 1988, a presidential candidate must be a minimum of 35 years old, born and residing in Brazil, and be an elector.
He or she must also qualify to run for office, which means he or she has electoral rights. Lastly, the presidential candidate must be a member of an established political party considering that write-in candidates are not permitted on the ballot in Brazil.
The president's duties include commanding the Brazilian Armed Forces as their commander-in-chief, representing Brazil across the world, heading up the executive branch of the Brazil government, and appointing Cabinet members and judges to sit on the Supreme Federal Tribunal. The president can also put laws on the books as well.
The president's official title is the President of the Federative Republic of Brazil if the president is a man.
The current President of Brazil happens to be a woman, President Dilma Vana Rousseff. She is addressed with one of three titles of respect: President of the Republic, Her Excellency Madam President of the Republic, or Madam President.
President Rousseff took office in January 2011, succeeding her predecessor, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva.
How did Brazil arrive at this form of government for their country?
In a nutshell, the Brazilian government has endured two periods of dictators, three periods of democratic rule, and six different constitutions since the year 1889. Voting is not a choice given to the people, but rather it is mandatory.
Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, affectionately known as Lula, was the most popular president of Brazil for many reasons. He came from literally nothing, shining shoes of the wealthy as a boy on the streets, to becoming president of an amazing country.
He served the two terms allowed by Brazil's constitution. During his time in office, he worked diligently to close the extremely wide economic gap between the poor and the rich of Brazil. His work endeared him to the people in a way that no other president has done.
Lula's chief-of-staff, affectionately called Dilma is now president of Brazil. She took office in January 2011 and plans to follow closely in the footsteps of her former boss by working hard to continue helping the poor of the country. The goal of Lula, and hopefully now Dilma, is to give the poor opportunities to make their lives better economically and at the same time, allow the rich of the country to continue to earn money by investing well.
Brazilians must have seen that Dilma was much like Lula, or else they would not have elected her to the office of president. They recognize the changes that Lula made in favor of the poorer people without penalizing the rich. They want that type of positive change to continue, so they made their voices heard by electing Dilma.
One of the biggest challenges facing Brazil's new president is to continue finding ways to close the gap between the classes of Brazil. Lula did a great job, but there is still more work to be done. It is now said that Lula's way became Brazil's way of life! That's how involved he became in the people of Brazil's lives.
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