Political Parties and Elections
According to sociologist Marcelo Ridenti, Brazilian politics is divided between internationalistic liberals and statist nationalistics. The first group consists of politicians which argue that the internationalization of the economy is essential for the development of the country, while the other group rely on interventionism, and protection of state enterprises. According to Ridenti, who cites the Fernando Henrique Cardoso administration as an example of the first group and the Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva administration as an example of the second, "we have it cyclically".
Lula's Workers' Party tends to the statist nationalism side, although there are privatizing forces within his party and government, while Cardoso's Social Democratic Party tends to favor the international private market side by taking neoliberal policies. That is especially truth when considering that Lula compares himself with Getúlio Vargas, Juscelino Kubitscheck and João Goulart, presidents seen as statist nationalistics.
As of November 2010, 13.8 million Brazilians were affiliated to a political party. That accounts for 7.3% of the country's population and 10.2% of voters. The preferred parties are PMDB (which accounts for 16.6% of affiliated voters), the Workers' Party (10.0% of affiliated voters), and PP (9.8% of affiliated voters).
Read more about this topic: Politics Of Brazil
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