The Chamber is considering taking advantage of one per state to increase the number of parliamentarians. The proposal is to create up to 18 new vacancies.
The matter is on the agenda of the House leadership. Favorite to be the next president, (-PB) addressed the issue in his campaign.
If the measure comes to fruition, Brazil will have up to 531 deputies. Currently, there are 513.
In the United States, there are 435 deputies for a population of 335 million people — a ratio of 1 for every approximately 770 thousand inhabitants.
Brazil has 212 million residents. The current proportion is 1 for every 413 thousand people. With the change, it would become 1 in every 399 thousand.
The change in vacancies by state is a consequence of a lawsuit in court. The Constitution determines that the number of deputies is proportional to the population — a minimum of 8 and a maximum of 70 parliamentarians per state.
The distribution of the 513 seats in the Chamber was made in 1993, and the periodic update provided for by law never occurred.
In 2017, Pará filed a lawsuit with the STF asking for an update and, last year, it obtained a favorable decision. The state is entitled to four new deputies and, thus, would go from 17 to 21 parliamentarians.
With the redistribution: Amazonas (2), Ceará (1), Goiás (1), Minas Gerais (1), Mato Grosso (1), Pará (4) and Santa Catarina (4).
Another seven states would lose deputies: Alagoas (1), Bahia (2), Paraíba (2), Pernambuco (1), Piauí (2), Rio de Janeiro (4) and Rio Grande do Sul (2).
Maneuver by deputies
The possible creation of vacancies is the consequence of a maneuver led by parliamentarians from Rio de Janeiro and parts of the Northeast states. It consists of opening vacancies in the states covered and not closing vacancies in states that would lose parliamentarians.
Thus, the House would gain 14 new deputies. It turns out that the states that have the right to have more parliamentarians did not agree with the mathematics, as they would be on par with the states in which the population fell.
For the population proportion to be respected, 18 new parliamentarians would be needed – hence the total of 531 deputies in the account.
The update needs to be completed by June 30th of this year. The criterion must be the last Census of . If the deputies do not comply with the STF’s decision, the TSE (Superior Electoral Court) will be responsible for the task.
The changes are valid for the 2026 election, but there are arrangements to circumvent the court decision.
Favorite to win the Chamber election, Motta is sensitive to the issue and was approached by the Santa Catarina bench during a meeting to ask for votes for the position. When contacted, he did not respond.
Deputies criticize increase
The proposal to create vacancies received criticism. Representative Júlia Zanatta (PL-SC) declared that the people would not accept increasing the number of deputies. Rafael Pezenti (MDB-SC) has a project to update the number of vacancies per state and is also against the proposal.
Deputies from states that would lose parliamentarians are also against it. Cabo Gilberto (PL) from Paraíba said that, if the number of parliamentarians is to be changed, it is to cut vacancies.
Kim Kataguiri (União Brasil-SP) states that society will be against the measure, which should not prosper.
Deputies who consider creating vacancies claim that there will be no costs. They say the Legislature’s budget has surpluses every year.
The reallocation of funds would be another possibility of not increasing expenses, says deputy Laura Carneiro (PSD), from Rio de Janeiro, a state that could lose four seats.
For her, there will only be a chance of creating vacancies only if it becomes clear to society that the Chamber’s expenses will not increase.
This is unlikely, indicates a recent example. In 2023, there was an increase in the number of Chamber committees. Until then, there were 25 groups to deal with thematic issues, such as transport and agriculture, among others.
The opening of five new commissions occurred with the relocation of servers. But the promise of no new expenses fell apart with the opening of a competition to hire more employees.
For Kataguiri, the same should happen if new deputy vacancies are created.
Criticisms of the Census
Another attempt by states that could lose deputies is to postpone the decision. Parliamentarians from Rio de Janeiro and the Northeast state that there is no solid database to carry out the update.
Aureo Ribeiro (Solidariedade-RJ) cites the fact that the Census was carried out during the pandemic, with a series of difficulties limiting the work of census takers.
Laura Carneiro claims that IBGE professionals did not move up in the communities of Rio de Janeiro. She calls for public hearings to listen to experts and put together a work plan on a possible change in the number of deputies.
Another suggestion from the parliamentarian is to ask the STF to postpone the update deadline.
Pezenti, from Santa Cactarina, says that the discussion is healthy, but emphasizes that there is a deadline to be met.
“We are 513 deputies, that’s more than enough. What needs to be done is to better distribute these parliamentarians, so that every Brazilian’s vote has equal weight”, he says.
