History of The Constitution of Brazil - Fifth Constitution (1946)

Fifth Constitution (1946)

Background

When Vargas was forced to resign in 1945, a new constitution was written, once again by a directly elected Constitutional Congress.

The Constitution

This was the first Brazilian constitution to provide full political freedom (even the Brazilian Communist Party was made legal, though briefly) and the last to officially name the country Estados Unidos do Brazil (and the spelling of the country's name would change later that year). It was also the first with an additional "Act of Transitory Measures" (a set of laws that came into effect before the constitution itself and could not be changed). The key points of this constitution were:

• Restore all rights and freedoms as expressed by the 1934 Constitution which had been suppressed in 1937.
• Reducing the powers of the presidency; while it remained the key institution, safeguards were put in place to prevent another president from abusing his power as Vargas had done.
• Establish full equality before the law.
• Created mechanisms to prevent and fight religious prejudice and censorship (the latter with some exceptions regarding moral censorship of spectacles and public shows).
• Mentioned the right to postal privacy and the inviolability of homes (until then police could break into anyone's house without a permit).
• Improved federalism by extending the powers of the member states (for instance, it was the first time states were allowed to have flags and anthems).
• Although it was not the first time all adults were granted full political rights, it was under this constitutional that the first free (and quite fair) elections were held at all levels and for all offices.
• Elections for executive offices would be held in a single turn.
• Voters could freely choose candidates of whatever party, including for vice president and vice governor.

The last two would become the major problems of this constitution, as they were prone to produce and fuel both legitimacy crises (as the presidents were usually elected by less than the majority of the votes) and conspiracies (as the vice-president was usually from another party).