MAJORITY ELECTIONS IN THE BRAZILIAN STATE CAPITALS: FEDERAL INDEPENDENCE AND INTERDEPENDENCE

Resumo

This article explores the implications of the federal dimensionof Brazilian electoral behavior. The international and national literaturetouts how the federation can shape political disputes within a countryand influence voting outcome when voters choose their representativesin the different levels of government. In the Brazilian case, the federationis essential to electoral shaping. There are three autonomous levels ofelectoral competition—national, states, and municipalities—for thepolitical offices of the executive and legislative branches, allowing partiesto organize themselves into different territorial bases and connectingthose bases in the process of the voting decision. To further the debate,this article explores the impact of national and state executive elections on municipal elections in the 26 Brazilian state capitals between 1994and 2008. It seeks to determine through econometric analysis whetherthe vote for president and/or governor influences the vote for mayor.According to the results, the answer is yes. When a party shows goodperformance in the vote for president or governor, the vote for mayor ispositively impacted. Additionally, the gubernatorial election has a greaterinfluence on the majority of municipal elections. The findings confirmthe importance of federal electoral connections to understanding voting,which presents distinct patterns between the parties and the federalentities and merits additional research and publications.