A influência da dinâmica eleitoral sobre o comportamento dos partidos na Câmara dos Deputados e no Senado Federal

Abstract

This article discusses the impact of electoral dynamics on partisan political behavior in the Brazilian Congressional arena. Based on an analysis of voting and electoral alliances, the author shows that Presidential elections became efficient and influenced the parties performance and alignments in Congres- sional disputes. She thenproceeds to argue that repeat contestants inPresiden- tial races behave more coherently and in a more disciplined way in the Con- gressional arena inorder to maximize theirpartys electoral value, which is not expected of one-time Presidential contestants. The findings show that the par- tisan approach underlying the behavior of party leadership and delegations in the Brazilian Congress is explained by the electoral and organizational dynamics, and not only by centralization of the decision-making process.