The Brazilian Labour Party ( pt, Partido Trabalhista Brasileiro, PTB) is a
political party in Brazil founded in 1981 by
Ivete Vargas, niece of President
Getúlio Vargas
Getúlio Dornelles Vargas (; 19 April 1882 – 24 August 1954) was a Brazilian lawyer and politician who served as the 14th and 17th president of Brazil, from 1930 to 1945 and from 1951 to 1954. Due to his long and controversial tenure as Brazi ...
. It claims the legacy of the
historical PTB, although many historians reject this because the early version of PTB was a
center-left party with wide support in the
working class
The working class (or labouring class) comprises those engaged in manual-labour occupations or industrial work, who are remunerated via waged or salaried contracts. Working-class occupations (see also " Designation of workers by collar colou ...
. It is the seventh largest political party in Brazil with more than a million affiliated as of 2022.
Despite the name suggesting a
left-leaning unionist labour party, the PTB was mostly a
centrist
Centrism is a political outlook or position involving acceptance or support of a balance of social equality and a degree of social hierarchy while opposing political changes that would result in a significant shift of society strongly to the ...
party for most of its history, considered part of the ''
Centrão
In Brazilian politics, the ''centrão'' ( – ) refers to a group of political parties that do not have a specific or consistent ideological orientation and aim at ensuring proximity to the executive branch in order to guarantee advantages and all ...
'', a bloc of parties without consistent ideological orientation which supports different sides of the political spectrum in order to gain political previleges. As such, they supported the presidency of
Fernando Collor de Mello
Fernando Affonso Collor de Mello (; born 12 August 1949) is a Brazilian politician who served as the 32nd president of Brazil from 1990 to 1992, when he resigned in a failed attempt to stop his impeachment trial by the Brazilian Senate. Collor ...
,
Itamar Franco
Itamar Augusto Cautiero Franco (; 28 June 19302 July 2011) was a Brazilian politician who served as the 33rd president of Brazil from 29 December 1992 to 31 December 1994. Previously, he was the 21st vice president of Brazil from 1990 until th ...
,
Fernando Henrique Cardoso — all considered
center-right —
Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva and the first term of
Dilma Rousseff
Dilma Vana Rousseff (; born 14 December 1947) is a Brazilian economist and politician who served as the 36th president of Brazil, holding the position from 2011 until her impeachment and removal from office on 31 August 2016. She is the first ...
— who were leftist presidents. Since the
conservative wave
The conservative wave ( pt, onda conservadora; es, ola conservadora), or blue tide ( pt, maré azul; es, marea azul), was a right-wing political phenomenon that occurred in the mid-2010s to the early 2020s in Latin America as a direct reactio ...
in the 2010s, the party has shown strong support for the government of
Jair Bolsonaro,
presenting policies from a more
right-wing angle, in addition to affiliating federal deputy
Daniel Silveira, known for making references to
AI-5.
History
The
original PTB was a center-left
labourist party with strong support from
trade unions founded in 1945 by former Brazilian president
Getúlio Vargas
Getúlio Dornelles Vargas (; 19 April 1882 – 24 August 1954) was a Brazilian lawyer and politician who served as the 14th and 17th president of Brazil, from 1930 to 1945 and from 1951 to 1954. Due to his long and controversial tenure as Brazi ...
, who formerly presided the country from 1930 to 1945. After Vargas suicide in 1954, PTB's main figures became
Leonel Brizola and
João Goulart
João Belchior Marques Goulart (1 March 1919 – 6 December 1976), commonly known as Jango, was a Brazilian politician who served as the 24th president of Brazil until a military coup d'état deposed him on 1 April 1964. He was considered the ...
, who was elected
vice-president in 1960 — becoming president after the resignation of
Jânio Quadros — until his deposition after the
1964 coup d'état. After that PTB, along with every other Brazilian party, was banned.
In 1979, the military dictatorship that had dismantled the historical PTB decided to revoke its legislation which enforced a two-party state. Soon thereafter, the
social-democratic wing of the original PTB, led by Leonel Brizola, attempted to recreate the party, but the military government instead awarded the name to a group led by
Ivete Vargas, niece of
Getúlio Vargas
Getúlio Dornelles Vargas (; 19 April 1882 – 24 August 1954) was a Brazilian lawyer and politician who served as the 14th and 17th president of Brazil, from 1930 to 1945 and from 1951 to 1954. Due to his long and controversial tenure as Brazi ...
, who became the president of the party. Many of her group were politicians who did not follow PTB's historical labourist ideology, conservatives and even former oppositors of the party. Leonel Brizola instead led his faction to found the
Democratic Labour Party (PDT). This all but ensured that the PTB would abandon
leftist politics, ultimately embracing centrist or slightly right-leaning politics.
At the
legislative elections of October 6, 2002, the party won 26 out of 513 seats in the
Chamber of Deputies
The chamber of deputies is the lower house in many bicameral legislatures and the sole house in some unicameral legislatures.
Description
Historically, French Chamber of Deputies was the lower house of the French Parliament during the Bourbon R ...
and 3 out of 81 seats in the Senate.
In the 1989, a small dissident faction of moderate social democrats and populists abandoned the PTB and founded the
Labour Party of Brazil (PTdoB), which was renamed to
Avante in 2017.
Before the
2010 presidential election, PTB participated in the coalition government of former
President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, and did not field presidential candidates. The party, however, did not support Lula's candidate to succeed him,
Dilma Rousseff
Dilma Vana Rousseff (; born 14 December 1947) is a Brazilian economist and politician who served as the 36th president of Brazil, holding the position from 2011 until her impeachment and removal from office on 31 August 2016. She is the first ...
(herself a former historical PTB/PDT member), as it embarked on
PSDB José Serra's failed campaign for president.
Since 2018 with the rise of
conservatism
Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy that seeks to promote and to preserve traditional institutions, practices, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civilizati ...
and
Bolsonarism in Brazil (a phenomenon known as the '
conservative wave
The conservative wave ( pt, onda conservadora; es, ola conservadora), or blue tide ( pt, maré azul; es, marea azul), was a right-wing political phenomenon that occurred in the mid-2010s to the early 2020s in Latin America as a direct reactio ...
'), the party started a strong turn to right-wing politics, declaring itself an openly conservative party, supporting the government of
Jair Bolsonaro and his positions.
The transformation affected the party, senator
Armando Monteiro left the party in 2021, calling it a "bolsonarist cult".
In 2020, Jair Bolsonaro left his original party
Social Liberal Party (PSL) and failed to form his own
Alliance for Brazil, PTB was one of the parties that had extensive negotiations for affiliating him, which helped as Bolsonaro was previously a PTB member from 2003 to 2005, but the negotiations ended up failing.
For the
2022 Brazilian general election
General elections were held on 2 October 2022 in Brazil to elect the president, vice president, the National Congress, the governors, vice governors, and legislative assemblies of all federative units, and the district council of Fernando de ...
, PTB initially chose
Roberto Jefferson
Roberto Jefferson Monteiro Francisco (born 14 June 1953) is a Brazilian politician.
Personal life and education
He was born on 14 June 1953, in Petrópolis, in the state of Rio de Janeiro. He is the son of Neusa Dalva Monteiro Francisco and Ro ...
as their presidential candidate, but on 1 September 2022, the Superior Electoral Court denied Jefferson's candidacy as it ruled him ineligible for public office until 24 December 2023 due to a prior criminal conviction. After this ruling, the party nominated Padre Kelmon Souza for president, a self-proclaimed
orthodox priest who is not part of the
Brazilian Orthodox Churches, and Luiz Cláudio Gamonal — an
evangelical
Evangelicalism (), also called evangelical Christianity or evangelical Protestantism, is a worldwide interdenominational movement within Protestant Christianity that affirms the centrality of being " born again", in which an individual expe ...
pastor — for vice president. Kelmon was accused of beginning an "auxiliary line" for Jair Bolsonaro, making a campaign for Bolsonaro and not himself, and at debates exclusively attacking Bolsonaro's opponents and praising his presidency. When Jefferson previously had announced he would launch his candidacy, he announced that it would be to support the campaign of Jair Bolsonaro.
After the 2022 general elections, PTB elected only one federal deputy, failing to break through the
electoral threshold
The electoral threshold, or election threshold, is the minimum share of the primary vote that a candidate or political party requires to achieve before they become entitled to representation or additional seats in a legislature. This limit can ...
and thus cutting access to
party subsidies Party subsidies or public funding of political parties are subsidies paid by the government directly to a political party to fund some or all of its political activities. Most democracies (in one way or the other) provide cash grants (state aid) fro ...
and free advertisement on television. On October, the PTB assembly voted to merge with right-wing conservative party
Patriota
Patriota (, ), abbreviated PATRI and formerly known as the National Ecological Party ( pt, Partido Ecológico Nacional, abbreviated PEN), is a right-wing to far-right political party in Brazil. It was registered in the Superior Electoral Court ...
in order to form the "Mais Brasil" party.
Notable members
Current members
*
Roberto Jefferson
Roberto Jefferson Monteiro Francisco (born 14 June 1953) is a Brazilian politician.
Personal life and education
He was born on 14 June 1953, in Petrópolis, in the state of Rio de Janeiro. He is the son of Neusa Dalva Monteiro Francisco and Ro ...
, former Federal Deputy for
Rio de Janeiro
Rio de Janeiro ( , , ; literally 'River of January'), or simply Rio, is the capital of the state of the same name, Brazil's third-most populous state, and the second-most populous city in Brazil, after São Paulo. Listed by the GaWC as a b ...
(1983—2005, by PTB).
*
Eduardo Cunha
Eduardo Cosentino da Cunha (born 29 September 1958), is a Brazilian politician and radio host, born in Rio de Janeiro. He was President of the Chamber of Deputies of Brazil from February 2015 until May 5, 2016, when he was removed from the posi ...
, former
President of the Chamber of Deputies of Brazil
The president of the Chamber of Deputies is the speaker of the lower house of the National Congress of Brazil, elected by his peers for a two-year term.
Arthur Lira, a deputy from Alagoas and a member of Progressistas, currently holds the off ...
(2015—2016, by
MDB MDB may refer to:
Computing
* .mdb, a file-extension used in certain versions of Microsoft Access databases
* MDB, a kernel debugger for the Linux kernel.
* MDB, the NASDAQ ticker symbol for MongoDB, a database management system.
* Message Drive ...
) and Federal Deputy for
Rio de Janeiro
Rio de Janeiro ( , , ; literally 'River of January'), or simply Rio, is the capital of the state of the same name, Brazil's third-most populous state, and the second-most populous city in Brazil, after São Paulo. Listed by the GaWC as a b ...
(2003—2016, by
MDB MDB may refer to:
Computing
* .mdb, a file-extension used in certain versions of Microsoft Access databases
* MDB, a kernel debugger for the Linux kernel.
* MDB, the NASDAQ ticker symbol for MongoDB, a database management system.
* Message Drive ...
).
*
Iolanda Fleming
Iolanda Lima Fleming (born 20 June 1936, Manoel Urbano) is a Brazilian professor and politician. She is noted as the first woman to become a state governor in Brazil. She served as the Governor of Acre from 1986 to 1987.
Fleming is the daughte ...
, former
Governor of Acre (1986—1987, by
MDB MDB may refer to:
Computing
* .mdb, a file-extension used in certain versions of Microsoft Access databases
* MDB, a kernel debugger for the Linux kernel.
* MDB, the NASDAQ ticker symbol for MongoDB, a database management system.
* Message Drive ...
) and
Vice Governor of Acre (1983—1986, by
MDB MDB may refer to:
Computing
* .mdb, a file-extension used in certain versions of Microsoft Access databases
* MDB, a kernel debugger for the Linux kernel.
* MDB, the NASDAQ ticker symbol for MongoDB, a database management system.
* Message Drive ...
).
*
Daniel Silveira, Federal Deputy for
Rio de Janeiro
Rio de Janeiro ( , , ; literally 'River of January'), or simply Rio, is the capital of the state of the same name, Brazil's third-most populous state, and the second-most populous city in Brazil, after São Paulo. Listed by the GaWC as a b ...
(2019—present, by
PSL,
UNIÃO and PTB).
*
Fernando Collor de Mello
Fernando Affonso Collor de Mello (; born 12 August 1949) is a Brazilian politician who served as the 32nd president of Brazil from 1990 to 1992, when he resigned in a failed attempt to stop his impeachment trial by the Brazilian Senate. Collor ...
, Senator for
Alagoas
Alagoas (, ) is one of the 27 federative units of Brazil and is situated in the eastern part of the Northeast Region. It borders: Pernambuco (N and NW); Sergipe (S); Bahia (SW); and the Atlantic Ocean (E). Its capital is the city of Maceió. ...
(2007—present, by PTB,
PROS,
PTC, former
President of Brazil
The president of Brazil ( pt, Presidente do Brasil), officially the president of the Federative Republic of Brazil ( pt, Presidente da República Federativa do Brasil) or simply the ''President of the Republic'', is the head of state and head o ...
(1990—1992, by
Act), Governor of
Alagoas
Alagoas (, ) is one of the 27 federative units of Brazil and is situated in the eastern part of the Northeast Region. It borders: Pernambuco (N and NW); Sergipe (S); Bahia (SW); and the Atlantic Ocean (E). Its capital is the city of Maceió. ...
(1987—1989, by
MDB MDB may refer to:
Computing
* .mdb, a file-extension used in certain versions of Microsoft Access databases
* MDB, a kernel debugger for the Linux kernel.
* MDB, the NASDAQ ticker symbol for MongoDB, a database management system.
* Message Drive ...
and
PRN), Mayor of
Maceió
Maceió (), formerly sometimes Anglicised as Maceio, is the capital and the largest city of the coastal state of Alagoas, Brazil. The name "Maceió" is an Indigenous term for a spring. Most maceiós flow to the sea, but some get trapped and form la ...
(1979—1983, by
ARENA
An arena is a large enclosed platform, often circular or oval-shaped, designed to showcase theatre, musical performances, or sporting events. It is composed of a large open space surrounded on most or all sides by tiered seating for spectator ...
and
PDS) and Federal Deputy for
Alagoas
Alagoas (, ) is one of the 27 federative units of Brazil and is situated in the eastern part of the Northeast Region. It borders: Pernambuco (N and NW); Sergipe (S); Bahia (SW); and the Atlantic Ocean (E). Its capital is the city of Maceió. ...
(1983—1986, by
PDS).
Former members
*
Jair Bolsonaro,
President of Brasil (2019—present, by
PSL and
PL) and former Federal Deputy for
Rio de Janeiro
Rio de Janeiro ( , , ; literally 'River of January'), or simply Rio, is the capital of the state of the same name, Brazil's third-most populous state, and the second-most populous city in Brazil, after São Paulo. Listed by the GaWC as a b ...
(1991—2018, by
PSL,
PSC,
Progressives
Progressivism holds that it is possible to improve human societies through political action. As a political movement, progressivism seeks to advance the human condition through social reform based on purported advancements in science, techn ...
,
DEM, PTB,
PPR and
PDC).
*
Jânio Quadros, former
President of Brazil
The president of Brazil ( pt, Presidente do Brasil), officially the president of the Federative Republic of Brazil ( pt, Presidente da República Federativa do Brasil) or simply the ''President of the Republic'', is the head of state and head o ...
(1961, by
PTN),
Governor of São Paulo (1955—1959, by
PDC) and
Mayor of São Paulo
In many countries, a mayor is the highest-ranking official in a municipal government such as that of a city or a town. Worldwide, there is a wide variance in local laws and customs regarding the powers and responsibilities of a mayor as well as ...
(1986—1988, by PTB, and 1953–1955, by
PDC).
*
Eduardo Paes,
Mayor of Rio de Janeiro
This is a list of mayors of Rio de Janeiro.
History
The city of Rio de Janeiro was founded in 1565. It was the seat of the Crown captaincy of Rio de Janeiro, a district of colonial Brazil under Portuguese rule. In 1763 Rio de Janeiro city became ...
(2021—present, by
DEM and
PSD, and 2009–2016, by
MDB MDB may refer to:
Computing
* .mdb, a file-extension used in certain versions of Microsoft Access databases
* MDB, a kernel debugger for the Linux kernel.
* MDB, the NASDAQ ticker symbol for MongoDB, a database management system.
* Message Drive ...
) and former Federal Deputy for
Rio de Janeiro
Rio de Janeiro ( , , ; literally 'River of January'), or simply Rio, is the capital of the state of the same name, Brazil's third-most populous state, and the second-most populous city in Brazil, after São Paulo. Listed by the GaWC as a b ...
(2002—2006, by
PSDB, and 1999–2001, by PTB)
*
Telmário Mota, Senator for
Roraima (2015—present, by
PDT, PTB and
PROS).
*
Ivete Vargas, former Federal Deputy for São Paulo (1983—1984, by PTB, and 1951–1969, by
PTB (defunct) and
MDB MDB may refer to:
Computing
* .mdb, a file-extension used in certain versions of Microsoft Access databases
* MDB, a kernel debugger for the Linux kernel.
* MDB, the NASDAQ ticker symbol for MongoDB, a database management system.
* Message Drive ...
).
*
Cristiane Brasil
Cristiane Brasil Francisco, commonly known as Cristiane Brasil (born 21 December 1973), is a Brazilian lawyer and politician. Former member of the Brazilian Labor Party (PTB), had been Federal Deputy, representing the state of Rio de Janeiro be ...
, former Federal Deputy for
Rio de Janeiro
Rio de Janeiro ( , , ; literally 'River of January'), or simply Rio, is the capital of the state of the same name, Brazil's third-most populous state, and the second-most populous city in Brazil, after São Paulo. Listed by the GaWC as a b ...
(2015—2019, by PTB).
Electoral history
Legislative elections
References
External links
*
{{Brazil political parties
1981 establishments in Brazil
Centrist parties in Brazil
Civic nationalism
Federalist parties
Labour parties
Liberal parties in Brazil
Nationalist parties in Brazil
Political parties established in 1981
Political parties in Brazil
Populist parties
Vargas Era