Editing Politics of Brazil (section)

==Government==
{{split section|Government in Brazil|date=April 2022}}

===Federal government===
{{Main|Federal government of Brazil}}

[[Image:Chamber of Deputies of Brazil 2.jpg|thumb|left|[[Chamber of Deputies of Brazil|Chamber of Deputies]], the [[lower house]]]]
[[Image:Plenary chamber of the Brazilian Senate - 2007-08-30 -2030JC012.jpg|thumb|[[Federal Senate of Brazil|Federal Senate]], the [[upper house]]]]

Brazil is a [[Federalism|federal]] [[Presidential system|presidential]] constitutional republic, based on [[representative democracy]]. The federal government has three independent [[Separation of powers|branches]]: executive, legislative, and judicial. [[Executive power]] is exercised by the executive branch, headed by the [[President of Brazil|President]], advised by a [[Cabinet of Brazil|Cabinet]]. The President is both the [[head of state]] and the [[head of government]]. [[Legislative power]] is vested upon the [[National Congress of Brazil|National Congress]], a two-chamber legislature comprising the [[Senate of Brazil|Federal Senate]] and the [[Chamber of Deputies of Brazil|Chamber of Deputies]]. [[Judicial power]] is exercised by the judiciary, consisting of the [[Supreme Federal Court]], the [[Superior Court of Justice (Brazil)|Superior Court of Justice]] and other [[Federal courts of Brazil|Superior Courts]], the [[National Justice Council]] and the [[Regional Federal Courts]].

===States===
{{Main|States of Brazil}}

[[Image:Rio-PalacioTiradentes.jpg|thumb|left|The [[Legislative Assembly of Rio de Janeiro]] holds the legislature of [[Rio de Janeiro]] state.]]
[[Image:Cidade Administrativa MG 1.jpg|thumb|[[Palácio Tiradentes]] holds the executive power of [[Minas Gerais]] state.]]

The 26 Brazilian ''states'' are semi-autonomous self-governing entities organized with complete administration branches, relative financial independence and their own set of symbols, similar to those owned by the country itself. Despite their relative autonomy they all have the same model of administration, as set by the Federal Constitution.

States hold elections every four years and exercise a considerable amount of power. The 1988 constitution allows states to keep their own taxes, set up [[State Senator (Brazil)|State Houses]], and mandates regular allocation of a share of the taxes collected locally by the federal government.

The Executive role is held by the {{lang|pt|Governador}} (Governor) and his appointed {{lang|pt|Secretários}} (Secretaries); the Legislative role is held by the {{lang|pt|Assembléia Legislativa}} (Legislative Assembly); and the Judiciary role, by the {{lang|pt|Tribunal de Justiça}} (Justice Tribunal). The governors and the members of the assemblies are elected, but the members of the Judiciary are appointed by the governor from a list provided by the current members of the State Law Court containing only judges (these are chosen by merit in exams open to anyone with a law degree). The name chosen by the governor must be approved by the Assembly before inauguration. The 1988 Constitution has granted the states the greatest amount of autonomy since the Old Republic.

Each of the 26 state governors must achieve more than 50% of the vote, including a second round run-off between the top two candidates if necessary. In contrast to the federal level, state legislatures are unicameral, although the deputies are elected through similar means, involving an open-list system in which the state serves as one constituency. State level elections occur at the same time as those for the presidency and Congress. In 2002, candidates from eight different parties won the gubernatorial contest while 28 parties are represented in the country's state legislatures. The last set of elections took place in 2006.

===Municipalities===
{{Main|Municipalities of Brazil}}

[[Image:Vista do Palácio Anchieta.JPG|thumb|left|The [[Municipal Chamber of São Paulo]], the municipal legislature of [[São Paulo]] city]]
[[Image:Palácio do Anhangabaú (Ed. Matarazzo) 01.JPG|thumb|[[Palácio do Anhangabaú]] holds the municipal executive power of [[São Paulo]].]]

Brazil has no clear distinction between ''towns'' and ''cities'' (in effect, the Portuguese word ''cidade'' means both). The only possible difference is regarding the municipalities that have a court of first instance and those that do not. The former are called ''Sedes de Comarca'' (seats of a ''comarca'', which is the territory under the rule of that court). Other than that, only size and importance differs one from another.

The municipality (''município'') is a territory comprising one urban area, the ''sede'' (seat), from which it takes the name, and several other minor urban or rural areas, the ''distritos'' (districts). The seat of a municipality must be the most populous urban area within it; when another urban area grows too much it usually splits from the original municipality to form another one.

A municipality is relatively autonomous: it enacts its own "constitution", which is called ''organic law'' (''Lei Orgânica''), and it is allowed to collect taxes and fees, to maintain a municipal police force (albeit with very restricted powers), to pass laws on any matter that do not contradict either the state or the national constitutions, and to create symbols for itself (like a flag, an anthem and a coat-of-arms). However, not all municipalities exercise all of this autonomy. For instance, only a few municipalities keep local police forces, some of them do not collect some taxes (to attract investors or residents) and many of them do not have a flag (although they are all required to have a coat-of-arms).

Municipalities are governed by an elected ''prefeito'' ([[Mayor]]) and a unicameral ''Câmara de Vereadores'' (Councillors' Chamber). In municipalities with more than 200,000 voters, the Mayor must be elected by more than 50% of the valid vote. The executive power is called ''Prefeitura''.

Brazilian municipalities can vary widely in area and population. The municipality of [[Altamira, Brazil|Altamira]], in the State of [[Pará]], with 161,445.9 square kilometres of area, is larger than many countries in the world. Several Brazilian municipalities have over 1,000,000 inhabitants, with São Paulo, at more than 9,000,000, being the most populous.

Until 1974 Brazil had one state-level municipality, the [[State of Guanabara]], now merged with [[Rio de Janeiro (state)|the State of Rio de Janeiro]], which comprised [[Rio de Janeiro (city)|the city of Rio de Janeiro]] solely.

===Federal District===
{{Main|Federal District (Brazil)}}

[[File:Câmara Legislativa do Distrito Federal 2012.jpg|thumb|[[Legislative Chamber of the Federal District]]]]

The Federal District is an anomalous unit of the federation, as it is not organized in the same manner as a municipality, does not possess the same autonomy as a state (though usually ranked among them), and is closely related to the central power.

It is considered a single and indivisible entity, constituted by the seat, [[Brasília]] and some [[Satellite town|of the satellite cities]]. Brasília and the satellite cities are governed by the [[Regional Administrator]]s individually and as a whole are governed by the Governor of the Federal District.