Brazilians living abroad can currently vote only in the presidential election. This situation will change if the constitutional amendment proposed by Senator Cristovam Buarque at the beginning of March becomes a law.
The amendment would give the more than three million Brazilians residing outside Brazil the right to elect their representatives in the National Congress.
“Brazil is advanced when it comes to electoral technology. To deepen the democratic process, that advance must be extended to other areas of the electoral process.
“I think that the time has come for Brazil to have parliamentarians elected abroad, just as Italy, Spain and Portugal do. This assumes that we are no longer a country of immigration and have become one of emigration,” the senator emphasized.
According to the senator, the Chamber of Deputies members elected by Brazilians abroad could prepare laws aiding those persons and guaranteeing rights to them and their future generations.
The proposed constitutional amendment is presently in the Federal Senate Constitution and Justice Commission awaiting study.
The text of the entire proposed amendment is available in Portuguese at http://www.cristovam.com.br/?page=lernoticia&idmateria=1211&idcanal=6
Neblina Orrico is a press aide to Senator Cristovam Buarque. Contact her at NEBLINA@senado.gov.br
Translated from the Portuguese by Linda Jerome – LinJerome@cs.com.
