Strength of the social movements: 

Following an end to a dramatic presidential campaign, Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff managed to secure a narrow 3.2 percent victory, guaranteeing her a second straight term as the head of state of the largest developing country in the Western Hemisphere. 

The elections revealed the continued support among the Brazilian social movements for the Brazilian Workers' Party. Throughout Rousseff’s presidential campaign she received public endorsements from various factions of the Brazilian labor movement, academic community, landless peasant organizations and urban activist groups. 

According to the director of the Brazilian Institute of Social and Economic Analyses (IBASE) Cândido Grzybowski explained, “If Dilma won, it's because there is confidence within organized society sectors that more changes will occur and because there is demand for more advances. The social movements were decisive in this win, she wouldn't have won without them."  

However, continued backing by the social movements will depend largely on whether President Rousseff fulfills their demands and the promises she made during the elections.

Urgent reforms:

In the months to come, President Rousseff will likely see public pressure from many fronts of Brazilian society including the social movements calling on the government to implement much needed reforms in the area of political, tax and media legislation. 

In her victory speech to supporters Dilma Rousseff announced that one of her first priorities will be the initiation of a process of political reform. 

Since August 2013, more than 350 organizations, social movements, labor federations, and political parties have been working to organize support for a Peoples' Referendum as a tool to promote changes in the Brazilian political system.

Last September, Rousseff and her governing Workers' Party (PT) collected 7,754,436 signatures – mainly from associations linked with social movements – in support of forming a constituent assembly to carry out a deep political reform in Brazil, including  greater political inclusion and campaign finance. 

Meanwhile, the OAB, Brazil’s lawyer association, has submitted a legal motion to the Brazilian Supreme Court to declare the current political campaign finance laws as unconstitutional. 

The president of the Federal Supreme Court (STF), Ricardo Lewandowski recently issued a statement in which he criticized the funding of political campaigns by private companies. 

"I have an opinion already expressed via a public vote, which is that campaigns should not be funded by private companies," he stated. 

A recent survey conducted by the Supreme Electoral Tribunal, concludes that three of Brazil’s largest companies account for 65 percent of the funding for the recent presidential election campaign. 

Tax reform: 

According to the Brazilian Supreme Court, the discussion of tax reform is also gaining momentum in Congress. Proposals will likely be discussed and voted upon in the House and Senate in the upcoming year and signed into law in 2016. 

According to IBASE Director Grzybowski, it is necessary to modify the current Brazilian tax system in order achieve future socio-economic changes.  

“The tax burden is too high on the poor and the middle class. We have to make rich people pay more taxes, we have to face this, otherwise change will take years," he said.

In a survey carried out by the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics (IBGE) found that the poorest 10 percent of the Brazilian population allocates 32 percent of their income towards taxes whereas the richest 10 percent only spend 21 percent. 

In Brazil, the poorest 10 percent of the population is largely comprised of both Afro-Brazilians and Females which total 68,06 percent and 54.34 percent, respectively.  

Therefore a study by the Institute for Socio Economic Studies (INESC) concluded that the Brazilian tax system unfairly punishes poor households particularly Afro-Brazilian women. 

Evilásio Salvador, a key contributor to the investigation stated “there is no doubt that black women are the most punished by the Brazilian tax system, while white men benefit the most."

Despite important reductions in the Gini Coeffient over the last 12 years, the INESC investigation found that structural tax reform is desperately needed in order to combat persistent income inequalities.

President of the Single Confederation of Workers (CUT) Vagner Freitas, Brazil's largest Labor union stated that tax reform is necessary in order to create a more equal and just society. 

"Taxes on the income and wealth of rich entrepreneurs should finance public programs in education, health, transport and housing," Freitas argued.

According to the IBGE study, only 15.64 percent of the total share of government tax revenue comes from income tax instead the majority comes from sales tax (55.74 percent), which are highly regressive meaning that it places a heavier burden on the working class.  

Media Reform: 

Throughout her campaign, Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff pledged that she would pursue media reform, which has been an ongoing demand by many sectors of the Brazilian Social movements. 

In the week leading up to the second round election run-off, journalists and grassroots activists launched nation wide mobilizations in order to gain signatures in support of the Popular Bill for Democratic Media, which aims to break the current media monopoly in Brazil. 

The composition of Brazilian media ownership is highly concentrated. According to National Forum for the Democratization of Communication (FNDC), there are six families who control 90 percent of the market.

During a political campaign speech last September President Rousseff vowed to dismantle the current media monopolies.  “The Constitution is very clear when it states that it does not allow monopolies. So in any sector where there is a concentration of ownership there needs to be changes,” she stressed.  

President Rousseff’s previous campaign pledges were reinforced today by comments from the PT Chairman Raul Falcao who confirmed that President Rousseff would promote legislation to regulate the audiovisual communications media in her second term. 

Falcao’s remarks coincides with a preliminary conference, which will be held next month leading up to the 2015 World Forum of Free Media in Tunisia. The event will include panel discussions comprised of Brazilian journalists, activists and academics who will address a variety of issues including access to media, media regulation legislation, censorship issues and the role of media in the criminalization of popular protest, dissent and social movements.

Grassroots struggle for democratic media reform started in the early 1990’s and has continued through to the present day.     

Pressure from the bottom:

According to Grzybowski, in order to ensure structural reforms in both of these areas pressure must come from the civil society organizations and grassroots movements. 

"Without pressure from society the most essential changes will not happen. What the people except from the next period of governance is more audacity. Showing that they are not simply accommodating to the demands but that they are still fighting for change.”

However, many of the necessary reforms will require approval from the Brazilian lower house of congress. Rousseff's political task has been made more difficult by the picture that has arisen in Brazil’s Congress. 

In the lower house, the PT lost 18 seats, while the Brazilian Democratic Movement Party, its main political ally in Congress, lost 13. The Brazilian Congress was already a very fragmented place, comprising 22 parties before the 2014 election. 

From January 1, 2015, when the new term begins, it will have 28 parties, making it even more difficult to approve bills and establish common ground.