In AM, parties have little or no articulation to overcome barrier clause, indicates expert

Marcela Leiros – Cenarium Magazine

MANAUS – The election this year, besides being a decisive moment for candidates running for the elections themselves, is also essential for parties that aim to win more space in the party and campaign funds. This is because the acronyms need to reach the barrier clause to be entitled to the party fund and to free radio and TV time. In the Amazon, the parties are little articulated for this, according to the analysis of political scientist heard by CENARIUM.

According to the electoral legislation, only the party that reaches, in this year’s elections for the House of Representatives, the minimum of 2% of the valid votes – distributed in at least nine states, with at least 1% of the votes in each state – or elects 11 deputies in nine states, will be entitled to these benefits. The parties that fail to reach either of these goals will only be entitled to a share of the electoral fund, used to finance campaigns and which is not subject to the barrier clause.

Each party can only run nine candidates, plus one for the total number of seats. That is, nine candidates will compete for the sum of the votes and will count towards whether the federation or party has made an electoral quotient, which must be around 225,000 votes.

“You have [local] parties that can help the [national] party, but you have parties that are strong at the national level, but that in Amazonas, to contribute, are not decisive. And the third are parties that on the national level are strong, but in Amazonas will not contribute even to the growth of the local party, much less on the national level”, political scientist Carlos Santiago explained to CENARIUM.

Parties in the fight

Santiago points out that, in Amazonas, few parties will be worried about reaching the performance clause, as it is also known, and there are those that, despite having low representation in the state, can be worried because they have much strength at the national level. This is the case of the PSC, Republicans, PP, PSD, PSDB, Podemos, and PL

“They don’t worry so much about the local scenario, but because at the national level they have strengths in several states and will be able to reach the 2% of valid votes”, said the political scientist.

As one of the parties that seek to achieve more representation in the state, the political analyst points out the Avante, the mayor of Manaus, David Almeida, who should launch his daughter, Fernanda Aryel, to dispute the vacancy in the House of Representatives. The councilman Marcelo Serafim has also announced the pre-candidacy to the Legislative House by the party. “The Avante will come out in isolation, wanting to contribute to the party’s good performance and should still elect two lawmakers”, he said.

Federations

There are also those parties that at a national level are small, but in the state of Amazonas they have a possibility of getting elected, mainly through the party federations. “There are no more proportional coalitions, there are only majoritarian ones. So the parties decided to create the famous party federations. The PCdoB, PT, and PV formed a federation to reach the performance clause. It was a way the PV and PCdoB found to survive,” explained Carlos Santiago.

“There is a party that is betting a lot to elect, together with PSDB, Amom [Mandel], who is from Citizenship. Although both don’t have local strength, in the proportional election, there is a bet that Amom will be a great vote puller for this federation and that he will reach the necessary votes to reach the electoral quotient”, he added.

Neither there nor here

Finally, the political scientist listed the acronyms that are strong at the national level, but will not be able to contribute much in the dispute. “The Polo, Pros, PSB, Podemos and Rede, in Amazonas, are tiny and are in a difficult situation, and will not help the party neither nationally nor locally,” concluded Carlos Santiago.