Changes in the Senate after the election

Marcos Chagas and Iolando Lourenço Reporters Agência Brasil

Brasília – Yesterday’s general elections in Brazil placed two-thirds (54 out of 81) of the seats in the Senate in play. Today it can be seen that there will be a new relationship of political forces in the upper house when the new Congress takes office in February.
In the leading opposition parties, the DEM went from 13 seats to 6. And the PSDB (José Serra’s party) went from 14 Senators to 11. On the other hand, two DEM senators, Rosalba Ciarlini of Rio Grande do Norte, and Raimundo Colombo of Santa Catarina, were elected governors. As their terms of office in the Senate run to 2015, they will be substituted by suplentes. [note: the fact is that if Serra does win the runoff and is elected president of Brazil he will face a very difficult situation in the Senate with only around one-third of the members in allied parties]
As for parties allied with the government, the election yesterday was mostly good news. The PMDB continues to be the biggest party in the Senate as its numbers rose from 17 seats to 20 (and there is a possibility of adding two more seats. First, if the election of the leader in Pará, Jader Barbalho, eventually gets past the Ficha Limpa barrier and is confirmed. Second, another seat could fall to the PMDB in Paraiba where the leader is in the opposition PSDB (Cassio Cunha Lima), but if he remains barred by Ficha Limpa, the seat will go to Wilson Santiago).
[note: other candidates for the Senate with Ficha Limpa problems are: Paulo Rocha (PT), also in Pará; João Capiberibe (PSB) in Amapá; and Ivo Cassol (PP) in Rondônia]
The PT (the party of Lula and Dilma) will now be the second biggest party in the Senate with 14 seats (up from 8). The PP, which had only one seat will now have five. The PSB, which had two seats now has three. The PcdoB goes from one seat to two. But, the PDT, which had six senators, will now have four. The PTB also got smaller, going from seven to six seats. The PSC continues with one Senator as Mão Santo (PI) lost, but Eduardo Amorim (SE) got elected.
Two parties, the PPS and PMN, which did not have anyone in the Senate will now have one senator each.
[note: if Dilma wins the runoff she will be able to count on a strong majority in the Senate of more than 50 senators]
The independent P-SOL now has one senator, but if Jader Barbalho is barred, could get two. The PV had Marina Silva in the Senate, but now will have no one.

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