The Effects of 2017 Electoral Reform in Brazil

In 2017, amidst political and economic crises, Brazil underwent an electoral reform. The reform cemented an earlier change, shifting campaign financing from private to public. Additionally, it introduced a partisan electoral performance clause, and prohibited electoral coalitions for proportional representation offices. These changes aimed to curb fragmentation, weeding out smaller parties while empowering partisan leaders by giving them a lot of leeway in allocating substantial campaign funds.
In this panel, participants test some of the main hypotheses related to the Electoral Reform of 2017: whether it improved party loyalty, as well as potential
mechanisms for this effect, and the relative distribution of electoral funds among parties after reform. Prospects for Brazilian party system in the near future will be addressed.