Brazil Congress swears in 513 federal representatives and 27 senators

The 513 deputies and 27 senators elected in October 2022 will be sworn in today (Jan. 1), in Brasilia. After the inauguration, the executive boards of the House of Representatives and the Senate will be elected.

The executive boards are responsible for directing the legislative work and administrative services of both houses. Their attributions include among others the enactment of amendments to the Constitution. Each executive board is composed of the presidency (the president and two vice-presidents) and the secretariat (four secretaries and four deputy secretaries).

House of Representatives

Federal representatives will be sworn in in the morning at Ulysses Guimarães plenary. In the afternoon, the new head of the House of Representatives and the executive board for the 2023/2024 biennium will be elected.

According to the internal regulation, the party blocs determine the composition of the board. The larger the block, the greater the number of positions. The positions are distributed among the parties in each bloc. If wished, parties can act alone, without being part of a bloc.

The election process is coordinated by the oldest federal representative with the greatest number of legislatures. Voting will only begin when there are at least 257 representatives in the plenary.

Vote counting is carried out according to the position, starting with the head of the House of Representatives. To be elected, a candidate needs an absolute majority of the votes in the first round of voting or to receive the most votes in the second round. After the new president is elected, the votes of the other members of the executive board will be counted: two vice presidents, four secretaries, and four deputies.

Senate

With the renewal of one-third of the seats in the 81-seat Senate, the new members will also be sworn in today. The terms of office correspond to eight years and run until February 2031. Among those to be sworn in, five were reelected. Another four were nominated as ministers in Lula’s government.

According to the Constitution, the congressman who becomes a minister does not lose his mandate in the National Congress. Right after being sworn in as senators, the four must return to their ministries and leave their seats for their deputies. 

After the inauguration, the second preparatory meeting for the election of the Senate head begins. The term of the head, who is also responsible for the presidency of the National Congress, corresponds to two years.

So far, two candidates are officially competing for the position: current head Rodrigo Pacheco, supported by President Lula, and Rogério Marinho, from Bolsonaro’s party. Whoever gets an absolute majority of the votes (41) will be elected. If none of the candidates receives this support, which has never occurred, the two candidates with the most votes go to a second round. Then, the election for the other members of the executive board will take place.

Tomorrow (2), there will be a solemn session to open the legislative year in which a message from the country’s president on prospects for the House of Representatives and the Senate will be read, regarding the processing of proposals considered a priority by the Executive Branch.

The message is taken to Congress either by the chief of staff or personally by the country’s president.