The origins of electoral rules in Brazil: the electoral code of 1932

• Grant number: 15/19455-3
• Support Opportunities: Regular Research Grants
• Start date: February 01, 2016
• End date: January 31, 2018
• Field of knowledge: Humanities - Political Science - Political Behavior
• Principal Investigator: Paolo Ricci
• Grantee: Paolo Ricci
• Host Institution: Centro Brasileiro de Análise e Planejamento (CEBRAP). São Paulo , SP, Brazil
• Associated researchers: Glauco Peres da Silva ; Luciana Pessanha Fagundes ; Maria Do Socorro Sousa Braga ; Mônica Karawejczyk ; Raimundo Helio Lopes

Abstract

In 1932, the Brazilian revolutionary government adopted a new electoral legislation to the forthcoming elections. The electoral code of 1932 was an innovative law in several aspects, such as the introduction of women's suffrage, the compulsory voting, and the secret ballot. The new legislation also inaugurated an electoral justice system, and permitted the representation of the organized labor. Therefore, this project intends to evaluate why the revolutionary government decided to issue and approve such electoral reform with so many innovations in the period. The main hypothesis of this study is that the electoral code of 1932 was a rational response from revolutionary elites to the possibilities of losing elections. The ultimate aim of introducing these reforms was the control of the former oligarchies in the elections. Through an unprecedented analysis based on unexplored sources - newspapers, personal archives, and the official electoral results -, we seek to study the formulation and the implementation of the Electoral Code. The purpose is to show how these new rules were used to control not only the results of the national elections of 1933 and 1934, but also the municipal elections of 1934 and 1937. This research is also an attempt to stimulate a dialogue between different areas of knowledge. Accordingly, we are organizing a diverse team consisting of senior researchers and students with interdisciplinary background from History and Political Science. (AU)