Democracia, partidos e eleições: os custos do sistema partidário-eleitoral no Brasil.

Abstract

This study addresses the financing system of electoral campaigns from the analysis of the rules that guide the funding of political parties in Brazil. Taking the 2006 general elections as a reference, it seeks to measure the amount of resources spent for the financial structuring of parties and elections, and determine the public benefits offered by the system. All monetary figures were updated to current values in order to emphasize the impact they caused on the party structuring and the unfolding of the elections. The consequences of the proportionality rule on the distribution pattern of public resources were evaluated. One of them is that largeparties keep the lions share. The comparison of the public funding with the private financing demonstrates the overwhelmingly superiority of the first one. The public participation involves: (a) direct financing by the party fund, (b) indirect funding that covers the cost charged by the media to divulge the party programs, (c) fiscal exemptions that benefitbroadcasting radio stations, and (d) fiscal exemption that benefit all political parties. These costs reached the amount of 6.2 billion reals in 2006. When seen under the view of the financing system, the monopoly of political parties to receive public resources and benefits, their statutory autonomy and discretionary power of the parties and their leaderships toallocate and redistribute those funds are factors that strengthen their power in the electoral arena and raise new questions about their supposed weakness in the electoral competition. The hybrid character of the party and election financing system is demonstrated by thegrowing participation of the private sector, particularly during election periods. For them, the available data revealed that the composition of private revenues reflects a deviation in the proportionality degree, which is defined by the aforementioned rules and party performance, and follows therefore a specific logic due to the absence of legal restrictions to obtain private funds by the parties and spend them.