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Federal Senate
Senado Federal

Type
Type Upper House
Leadership
President of the Federal Senate José Sarney, PMDB
since February 2, 2009
Structure
Members 81
Political groups
Election
Last election October 1, 2006
Meeting place

National Congress Building
Brasília
Federal District
Brazil
Website
www.senado.gov.br
Brazil

This article is part of the series:
Politics and government of
Brazil

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The Federal Senate of Brazil (Portuguese: Senado Federal do Brasil) is the upper house of the National Congress of Brazil. Created by the first Constitution of the Brazilian Empire in 1824, it was inspired in United Kingdom's House of Lords, but with the Proclamation of the Republic in 1889 it became closer to the United States Senate.

Currently, the Senate comprises 81 seats. Three Senators from each of the 26 states and three Senators from the Federal District are elected on a majority basis to serve eight-year terms. Elections are staggered so that two-thirds of the upper house is up for election at one time and the remaining one-third four years later.

The current president of the Brazilian Senate is José Sarney, from the Brazilian Democratic Movement Party of Amapá. He was elected in early 2009 for a two-year term.

History

The Federal Senate of Brazil was first established by the Constitution of 1824, the first enacted after the Declaration of Independence.

Following the independence, in 1822, Emperor Pedro I ordered the convocation of a National Assembly to compose the country's first Constitution. Following several disagreements with the elected deputies (which included representatives from present-day Uruguay, then part of the Brazilian Empire under the name of Provícia Cisplatina), the Emperor dissolved the Assembly and, in 1824, implemented the first Constitution, in which it was established that the Legislative branch would comprise a lower house, the Chamber of Deputies, and an upper house.

The first configuration of the Senate was a consulting body to the Emperor. Membership was for life and it was a place of great prestige, to which only a small part of the population could aspire.

Members of the Senate were elected, but they had to be at least 40 years old and, which was more significant as a limiting factor, an annual income of 800,000 contos-de-réis was necessary in order to run for office. Furthermore, voters were selected by income as well. In order to be able to vote in the election, any man (women did not vote in the Brazilian Empire) was required to have an annual income of at least 200,000 contos-de-réis. But those who qualified to vote with this income would not vote directly for the Senators; instead, they voted for other people, who were candidates to be Senator electors. In order to run for this position, a minimal annual income of 400,000 contos-de-réis was required. Once elected, these electors would vote for senator. The election itself would not turn out a winner automatically. The three highest-voted candidates in each circumscription would make up what was called a "triple list", from which the Emperor would select one individual that would be considered "elected". The Emperor usually picked the highest-voted individual, but it was within his discretion to select whichever of the three individuals listed. The only exception for these rules were the Princes of the Brazilian Imperial House, who were senators by right and would take a seat in the Senate upon reaching 25 years old.

The original Senate had 50 members, representing all of the Empire's Provinces, each with a number of senators proportional to its population.

The first session of the first Senate took place on May 1826, following repeated delays from the Emperor in calling the first election after the inception of the 1824 Constitution; which had led to repeated accusations that the Emperor would be attempting to establish an absolutist government.

Current Senators

State Senator Party Term Notes
Acre Geraldo Mesquita PMDB 2003–2011
Acre Marina Silva PV 2003–2011
Acre Tião Viana PT 2007–2015
Alagoas Fernando Collor PTB 2007–2015
Alagoas João Tenório PSDB 2003–2011 Substitute for Teotônio Vilela Filho
Alagoas Renan Calheiros PMDB 2003–2011
Amapá Gilvam Borges PMDB 2003–2011
Amapá José Sarney PMDB 2007–2015 President of the Senate
Amapá Papaléo Paes PSDB 2003–2011
Amazonas João Pedro Gonçalves da Costa PT 2007–2015 Substitute for Alfredo Nascimento
Amazonas Arthur Virgílio PSDB 2003–2011
Amazonas Jefferson Praia PDT 2003–2011 Substitute for Jefferson Peres
Bahia Antônio Carlos Magalhães Júnior DEM 2003–2011 Substitute for Antônio Carlos Magalhães
Bahia César Borges PR 2003–2011
Bahia João Durval PDT 2007–2015
Ceará Inácio Arruda PCdoB 2007–2015
Ceará Patrícia Saboya Gomes PSB 2003–2011
Ceará Tasso Jereissati PSDB 2003–2011
Distrito Federal Adelmir Santana DEM 2003–2011 Substitute for Paulo Octávio
Distrito Federal Cristovam Buarque PDT 2003–2011
Distrito Federal Gim Argello PTB 2007–2015 Substitute for Joaquim Roriz
Espírito Santo Magno Malta PR 2003–2011
Espírito Santo Gérson Camata PMDB 2003–2011
Espírito Santo Renato Casagrande PSB 2007–2015
Goiás Demóstenes Torres DEM 2003–2011
Goiás Lúcia Vânia PSDB 2003–2011
Goiás Marconi Perillo PSDB 2007–2015
Maranhão Edison Lobão Filho DEM 2008–2011 Substitute for Edison Lobão
Maranhão Epitácio Cafeteira PTB 2007–2015
Maranhão Mauro Fecury PMDB 2009–2011 Substitute for Roseana Sarney
Mato Grosso Jayme Campos DEM 2007–2015
Mato Grosso Gilberto Goellner DEM 2008–2011 Substitute for Jonas Pinheiro
Mato Grosso Serys Slhessarenko PT 2003–2011
Mato Grosso do Sul Delcídio Amaral PT 2003–2011
Mato Grosso do Sul Marisa Serrano PSDB 2007–2015
Mato Grosso do Sul Válter Pereira PMDB 2003–2011 Substitute for Ramez Tebet
Minas Gerais Eduardo Azeredo PSDB 2003–2011
Minas Gerais Eliseu Resende DEM 2007–2015
Minas Gerais Wellington Salgado de Oliveira PMDB 2003–2011 Substitute for Hélio Costa
Pará Flexa Ribeiro PSDB 2003–2011 Substitute for Duciomar Costa
Pará José Nery Azevedo PSOL 2003–2011 Substitute for Ana Júlia Carepa
Pará Mário Couto PSDB 2007–2015
Paraíba Cícero Lucena PSDB 2007–2015
Paraíba Efraim Morais DEM 2003–2011
Paraíba Roberto Cavalcanti PRB 2009–2011 Substitute for José Maranhão
Paraná Álvaro Dias PSDB 2007–2015
Paraná Flávio Arns PSDB 2003–2011
Paraná Osmar Dias PDT 2003–2011
Pernambuco Jarbas Vasconcelos PMDB 2007–2015
Pernambuco Marco Maciel DEM 2003–2011
Pernambuco Sérgio Guerra PSDB 2003–2011
Piauí Heráclito Fortes DEM 2003–2011
Piauí João Vicente Claudino PTB 2007–2015
Piauí Mão Santa PMDB 2003–2011
Rio de Janeiro Francisco Dornelles PP 2007–2015
Rio de Janeiro Marcelo Crivella PRB 2003–2011
Rio de Janeiro Paulo Duque PMDB 2003–2011 Substitute for Sérgio Cabral Filho
Rio Grande do Norte Garibaldi Alves Filho PMDB 2003–2011
Rio Grande do Norte José Agripino DEM 2003–2011
Rio Grande do Norte Rosalba Ciarlini DEM 2007–2015
Rio Grande do Sul Paulo Paim PT 2003–2011
Rio Grande do Sul Pedro Simon PMDB 2007–2015
Rio Grande do Sul Sérgio Zambiasi PTB 2003–2011
Rondônia Expedito Júnior PR 2007–2015
Rondônia Fátima Cleide PT 2003–2011
Rondônia Valdir Raupp PMDB 2003–2011
Roraima Augusto Botelho PT 2003–2011
Roraima Mozarildo Cavalcanti PTB 2007–2015
Roraima Romero Jucá PMDB 2003–2011
Santa Catarina Ideli Salvatti PT 2003–2011
Santa Catarina Neuto de Conto PMDB 2003–2011 Substitute for Leonel Pavan
Santa Catarina Casildo Maldaner PMDB 2007–2015 Substitute for Raimundo Colombo
São Paulo Aloizio Mercadante PT 2003–2011
São Paulo Eduardo Suplicy PT 2007–2015
São Paulo Romeu Tuma PTB 2003–2011
Sergipe Almeida Lima PMDB 2003–2011
Sergipe Antônio Carlos Valadares PSB 2003–2011
Sergipe Virginio de Carvalho PSC 2007–2015 Substitute for Maria do Carmo Alves
Tocantins João Ribeiro PR 2003–2011
Tocantins Kátia Abreu DEM 2007–2015
Tocantins Leomar Quintanilha PMDB 2003–2011

See also

• Federal institutions of Brazil

External links

• Official website of the Brazilian Senate
• (Portuguese) Photos 360º of the Brazilian Senate
• List of all Brazilian senators (1826-2010; in Portuguese)