Federation of political parties in Brazil:

Impacts on the party system, latin american context and challenges for the 2022 elections

Abstract

This article focuses on party federation in Brazil (Law nº 14.208/2021). Based on the premise that political parties guide their behavior primarily to obtain organizational stability (PANEBIANCO, 2005), it presents six stages in which this objective has been developed, from the context in which the law was enacted to the future parliamentary functioning of federations. General lines of similar experiences of Uruguay and Chile will be presented, for comparison purposes. Then, the regional distribution of representation, in the Lower Chamber, of four political parties that announced their intention to form federations in 2022 will be taken to build the argument that electoral factors tend to significantly influence the decision on whether or not to adopt this associative model. The prognosis is that the organizational arrangements adopted to meet up each party’s pursuit of stability, involving more immediate electoral interests, will be decisive for the success of federations