Participação popular no processo legislativo municipal: uma análise da Câmara Municipal de São José da Lapa

Abstract

After the Federal Constitution of 1988, popular participation became a pillar of our democracy and an essential element harmonized with the representativeness expressed in the Legislative Branch. Even so, popular participation is small in the legislative process, especially in the smaller municipalities. Therefore, the main objective of this article is to analyze and understand this phenomenon from the analysis of the City Hall of São José da Lapa - MG. The research is qualitative in nature and carried out through a case study. Data collection was done through a field diary and semi-structured interviews with city councilors and citizens of the city of São José da Lapa, as well as from the analysis of public documents. The data were organized and analyzed using the technique of content analysis. The results evidenced the lack of popular participation in the legislative process lapense motivated by the lack of interest in participating, but also in the specific difficulties of the Municipality. Another cause was the lack of knowledge of the legislative function and the difficulty of access to participation mechanisms, as well as the lack of knowledge about popular participation. The results also pointed to possible solutions to the problem, such as greater dissemination of meeting guidelines, itinerant meetings and political awareness activities in schools aiming at popular participation essential to the realization of the democratic rule of law.