Brazil’s Presidential vote lost

Press, 27 April 1984, Page 6

Brazil’s Presidential vote lost

NZPA-Reuter Brasilia An Opposition amendment to change Brazil’s system of choosing Presidents from an electoral college to direct popular vote was narrowly defeated yesterday in Parliament. The four Opposition parties plus their supporters in the governing Social Democrat Party failed by 22 votes to gain the necessary two-thirds majority in the

Lower House of Deputies. The final count was 29865, three abstentions and 113 absentees. Fifty-four Government party deputies defied their leadership to vote for the Opposition amendment seeking to hold direct elections for General Joao Figueiredo’s successor on November 15. Because the amendment was beaten in the Lower House the Senate was not

called to vote. The Opposition needed 76 Social Democrat deputies to switch allegiance and all 244 members of the four Opposition parties to vote in favour of the amendment to gain the necessary twothirds of the 479-seat Lower House to win. Only if the Lower House approves the amendment will the 69-seat Senate be called on to vote. With censorship preventing live coverage of the

voting from being transmitted, in towns across the country people gathered before scoreboards listing members of Parliament while Opposition supporters in touch with the capital by telephone recorded the results. Crowds in cities such as Sao Paulo were goodhumoured in spite of their hours of waiting and no serious incidents were reported.