Party funding and campaign financing: influence on the Brazilian political scene

• Grant number: 12/13036-0
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Scientific Initiation
• Start date: September 01, 2012
• End date: August 31, 2013
• Field of knowledge: Applied Social Sciences - Law - Public Law
• Principal Investigator: Luís Virgílio Afonso da Silva
• Grantee: Alexandre Rebêlo Ferreira
• Host Institution: Faculdade de Direito (FD). Universidade de São Paulo (USP). São Paulo , SP, Brazil

Abstract

This undergraduate research aims at approaching the answers to the question "How to ensure vote equality in an unequal political system?". Within the Brazilian political reform debate, the questions and issues regarding party funding and campaign financing are of special importance, since its regulatory framework may have direct consequences on the local political system. The study on the consequences of implementing an exclusively public funding system, letting private donations be the main source of electoral campaign financing, or even enforcing a hybrid system, with or without limitations on the number of donations, are the cornerstone of this research. Thus, this study comprehends an approach to the Brazilian political scene through the legal devices that set the boundaries for local political financing, followed by the analysis of international examples, as well as legal and political opinions on how to regulate political parties' activities in order to achieve transparency and equality in the political dispute, ensuring actual democracy in the electoral dispute.(AU)