Congress system of checks and balances takes a holiday under Bolsonaro

In a political system such as Brazil’s, with three branches of government, one of the main functions of Congress is to provide checks and balances on the Executive. In simple terms, this keeps the president and his/her administration in line, stopping them from becoming too powerful in relation to the Legislative or Judicial branches. These checks and balances can come in a variety of ways, from overriding presidential vetoes to the more extreme option of launching impeachment proceedings.

Using these two congressional tools as examples, analysis of data from the last three years suggests that lawmakers have a mixed record when it comes to imposing checks on Brazil’s far-right President Jair Bolsonaro. While the evidence is limited, the findings threw up some important patterns.

Furthermore, I analyzed the extent to which Brazil’s lower house has “surrendered” itself to the Bolsonaro government during the term of House Speaker Arthur Lira, elected in February.

My conclusion was that the final report of the Senate’s Covid inquiry — accusing Mr. Bolsonaro of nine crimes for his handling of the coronavirus pandemic — was the legislative branch’s most important contribution to Brazilian democracy during the current government.

Veto trends in Congress

Among the most important perks for Brazilian presidents is their power to veto — entirely or in part — bills...