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Late Tuesday evening Brazilian lawmakers rejected a controversial campaign finance bill, which would have eliminated public funding of election campaigns in favor private donations from large corporations.
"Our position on campaign financing is for the end of the participation of businesses. We understand that this (the participation of businesses in campaign financing) makes it more difficult for people from the under-served classes to raise money," said Workers’ Party leader in the Brazil's Chamber of Deputies, Siba Machado, from the state of Acre.
The bill, proposed by the speaker of the House Eduardo Cunha, failed to reach the two-thirds majority needed for the approval of constitutional amendments.
With Tuesday’s vote, the part-private, part-public system remains in place.
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The current campaign finance regulations impose limits for the private financing of campaigns, in which companies can donate up to 2 percent of gross revenues obtained in the year preceding the election. For individuals, the donation is limited to 10 percent of gross income of the previous year.
However, a recent survey conducted by the Supreme Electoral Tribunal, concluded that three of Brazil’s largest companies account for 65 percent of the funding for all parties in the recent presidential election campaign.
Brazilian lawmakers will meet again on Wednesday to discuss other campaign finance proposals such as the parameters of monetary donations from private individuals.
During her election campaign, Rousseff spoke again about the need to reform campaign financing.
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.
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