List of political parties in Brazil

Brazil has a multi-party system since 1979, when the country's military dictatorship disbanded an enforced two-party system and allowed the creation of multiple parties.^[1]

Above the broad range of political parties in Brazilian Congress, the Workers' Party (PT), the Brazilian Democratic Movement (MDB), the Liberal Party (PL), the Progressives (PP) and the Brazil Union (UNIÃO) together control the absolute majority of seats in the Senate and Chamber of Deputies.^[2] Smaller parties often make alliances with at least one of these five major parties.^[3] The number of political parties reached the apex of 35 on 2018, 30 of which were represented in congress after the 2018 general election.^[4][5][6] However, an electoral threshold introduced on 2017 has resulted in the culling and merger of many parties, as it cuts access to party subsidies and free party political broadcasts.^[4][7]

Brazilian parties have access to party subsidies in form of the Fundo Partidário (lit. 'Party Fund') and the Fundo Eleitoral (lit. 'Electoral Fund') for elections.^[8] And a system of free party political broadcasts during election time known as the horário eleitoral gratuito.^[9]

Since 1982, Brazilian political parties have been given an electoral number to make it easier for illiterate people to vote. Initially, it was a one-digit number: 1 for PDS, 2 for PDT, 3 for PT, 4 for PTB, and 5 for PMDB. When it became clear that there was going to be more than nine parties, two-digit numbers were assigned, with the first five parties having a "1" added to their former one-digit number (PDS becoming number 11, PDT 12, PT 13, PTB 14, and PMDB 15). Political parties often change their names, but they can retain their number.

Active parties

Parties with representation in the National Congress

Party			Leader(s)	Political position	Representation[10][11][12]
					Deputies	Senators	Assemb.	Governors
	PL	Liberal Party Partido Liberal	Valdemar Costa Neto	Bolsonarism[13][14]	88 / 513	14 / 81	128 / 1,059	2 / 27
	PT	Workers' Party Partido dos Trabalhadores	Edinho Silva	Lulism	67 / 513	9 / 81	118 / 1,059	4 / 27
	UNIÃO	Brazil Union União Brasil	Antônio de Rueda	Catch-all[a]	59 / 513	7 / 81	98 / 1,059	4 / 27
	PP	Progressives Progressistas	Ciro Nogueira	Catch-all[a]	51 / 513	7 / 81	86 / 1,059	2 / 27
	PSD	Social Democratic Party Partido Social Democrático	Gilberto Kassab	Catch-all[a]	45 / 513	13 / 81	79 / 1,059	4 / 27
	MDB	Brazilian Democratic Movement Movimento Democrático Brasileiro	Baleia Rossi	Catch-all[a]	44 / 513	12 / 81	94 / 1,059	3 / 27
	Repub.	Republicans Republicanos	Marcos Pereira	Catch-all[a]	44 / 513	4 / 81	76 / 1,059	2 / 27
	PDT	Democratic Labour Party Partido Democrático Trabalhista	Carlos Lupi	Social democracy Labourism	17 / 513	3 / 81	44 / 1,059	0 / 27
	PSB	Brazilian Socialist Party Partido Socialista Brasileiro	João Henrique Campos	Progressivism Catch-all[18][19]	15 / 513	4 / 81	54 / 1,059	3 / 27
	PODE	We Can Podemos	Renata Abreu	Catch-all[a]	15 / 513	4 / 81	48 / 1,059	0 / 27
	PSDB	Brazilian Social Democracy Party Partido da Social Democracia Brasileira	Marconi Perillo	Third Way	13 / 513	3 / 81	55 / 1,059	1 / 27
	PSOL	Socialism and Liberty Party Partido Socialismo e Liberdade	Paula Coradi	Democratic socialism[20][21] Anti-capitalism[20][21] Progressivism[22]	13 / 513	0 / 81	22 / 1,059	0 / 27
	PCdoB	Communist Party of Brazil Partido Comunista do Brasil	Luciana Santos	Communism Marxism-Leninism	8 / 513	0 / 81	18 / 1,059	0 / 27
	Avante	Forward Avante	Luis Tibé	Catch-all[a]	8 / 513	0 / 81	14 / 1,059	0 / 27
	NOVO	New Party Partido Novo	Eduardo Ribeiro	Economic liberalism	5 / 513	1 / 81	5 / 1,059	1 / 27
	Solid.	Solidarity Solidariedade	Paulinho da Força	Catch-all[a]	5 / 513	0 / 81	29 / 1,059	1 / 27
	PRD	Democratic Renewal Party Partido Renovação Democrática	Marcus Vinícius Neskau	Catch-all[b]	5 / 513	0 / 81	25 / 1,059	0 / 27
	PV	Green Party Partido Verde	José Luiz Penna	Green politics	4 / 513	0 / 81	20 / 1,059	0 / 27
	Cidad.	Citizenship Cidadania	Comte Bittencourt	Liberalism[23] Progressivism[23]	4 / 513	0 / 81	19 / 1,059	0 / 27
	REDE	Sustainability Network Rede Sustentabilidade	Paulo Lamac, Iaraci Dias	Progressivism Environmentalism	1 / 513	0 / 81	6 / 1,059	0 / 27
	MISSÃO	Mission Party (unregistered) Partido Missão	Renan Santos [pt]	Conservatism[24] Anti-corruption[25] Bukelism[26][27]	1 / 513[c]	0 / 81	1 / 1,059[d]	0 / 27

Parties without representation in the National Congress

Party			Leader	Representation[12][31][32]
				Assemb.	Councillors	Mayors
	PRTB	Brazilian Labour Renewal Party Partido Renovador Trabalhista Brasileiro	Leonardo Avalanche	6 / 1,059	96 / 58,026	1 / 5,568
	MOBILIZA	National Mobilization Mobilização Nacional	Antonio Massarollo	5 / 1,059	357 / 58,026	21 / 5,568
	Agir	Act Agir	Daniel Tourinho [pt]	5 / 1,059	292 / 58,026	3 / 5,568
	PMB	Brazilian Woman's Party Partido da Mulher Brasileira	Suêd Haidar	3 / 1,059	107 / 58,026	2 / 5,568
	DC	Christian Democracy Democracia Cristã	José Maria Eymael	1 / 1,059	251 / 58,026	2 / 5,568
	PCB	Brazilian Communist Party Partido Comunista Brasileiro	Edmilson Costa	0 / 1,059	0 / 58,026	0 / 5,568
	PCO	Workers' Cause Party Partido da Causa Operária	Rui Costa Pimenta	0 / 1,059	0 / 58,026	0 / 5,568
	PSTU	United Socialist Workers' Party Partido Socialista dos Trabalhadores Unificado	Zé Maria	0 / 1,059	0 / 58,026	0 / 5,568
	UP	Popular Unity Unidade Popular	Leo Péricles	0 / 1,059	0 / 58,026	0 / 5,568

Party federations

On 28 September 2021, Law No. 14,208 was enacted, establishing "federations" (Portuguese: federações). These federations are associations between parties, considered as a single party in elections and legislative activities such as the creation of caucuses and committees. The associated parties must belong to the federation for at least four years from the date of its registration, with penalties if they leave before the deadline.

The establishment of party federations followed the abolition of coalitions in proportional elections, which had functioned as single parties in seat allocation. This change was implemented through Constitutional Amendment No. 97 of 2017, which also introduced an electoral threshold for future parliamentary elections. Parties and federations that surpass this threshold gain access to public subsidies through the Party Fund (Portuguese: Fundo Partidário) and are entitled to free advertising on radio and television.

Below are listed the federations currently registered with the Superior Electoral Court:^[33]

Federation	President	Representation[10][11][12]			Parties
		Deputies	Senators	Assemb.
Brazil of Hope Federation Federação Brasil da Esperança	Luciana Santos	79 / 513	9 / 81	156 / 1,059		PT
						PCdoB
						PV
PSDB Cidadania Federation Federação PSDB Cidadania	Marconi Perillo	17 / 513	3 / 81	74 / 1,059		PSDB
						Cidadania
PSOL REDE Federation Federação PSOL REDE	Paula Coradi	14 / 513	0 / 81	28 / 1,059		PSOL
						REDE

Extinct parties

This list presents the parties of the current Sixth Republic that were once registered with the Superior Electoral Court, but have ceased to exist. The existence of all these parties has ended by the result of mergers.

• Democrats - DEM (Democratas)^[e]
• Party of the Nation's Retirees - PAN (Partido dos Aposentados da Nação)
• Christian Democratic Party (1985) [pt] - PDC (Partido Democrata Cristão)
• Democratic Social Party - PDS (Partido Democrático Social)
• Workers' General Party - PGT (Partido Geral dos Trabalhadores)
• Humanist Party of Solidarity - PHS (Partido Humanista da Solidariedade)^[f]
• Liberal Party (1985) - PL (Partido Liberal)
• Free Fatherland Party - PPL (Partido Pátria Livre)
• Progressive Party (1993) - PP (Partido Progressista)
• Reform Progressive Party - PPR (Partido Progressista Reformador)
• Party of Reconstruction of the National Order - PRONA (Partido de Reedificação da Ordem Nacional)
• Republican Party of the Social Order - PROS (Partido Republicano da Ordem Social)
• Progressive Republican Party - PRP (Partido Republicano Progressista)
• Social Christian Party - PSC (Partido Social Cristão)
• Social Democratic Party (1987) - PSD (Partido Social Democrático)
• Social Liberal Party - PSL (Partido Social Liberal)
• Social Labour Party (1983) - PST (Partido Social Trabalhista)
• Brazilian Labour Party (1981) - PTB (Partido Trabalhista Brasileiro)
• Renewal Labour Party - PTR (Partido Trabalhista Renovador)
• Patriot (Patriota)^[g]

Historical parties

This list presents the parties that never reached the Sixth Republic. Due to the large number of parties that were dissolved, especially during the First and Second Republics, it is not intended to be an exhaustive list.

Imperial Brazil (1822–1889)

• Conservative Party (Partido Conservador)
• Liberal Party (Partido Liberal)
• Progressive League (Liga Progressista)^[h]

First and Second Republics (1889–1937)

• Paulista Republican Party - PRP (Partido Republicano Paulista)
• Rio-grandense Republican Party - PRR (Partido Republicano Rio-Grandense)
• Minas Gerais Republican Party - PRM (Partido Republicano Mineiro)
• Fluminense Republican Party - PRF (Partido Republicano Fluminense)
• Federal Republican Party - PRF (Partido Republicano Federal)
• Conservative Republican Party - PRC (Partido Republicano Conservador)
• Democratic Party - PD (Partido Democrático)
• Liberating Party - PL (Partido Libertador)
• Brazilian Black Front - FNB (Frente Negra Brasileira)
• Catholic Electoral League (Liga Eleitoral Católica)
• Brazilian Integralist Action - AIB (Ação Integralista Brasileira)

Fourth Republic (1945–1964)

• National Democratic Union - UDN (União Democrática Nacional)
• Brazilian Labour Party (1945) - PTB (Partido Trabalhista Brasileiro)
• Brazilian Socialist Party (1945) [pt] - PSB (Partido Socialista Brasileiro)^[i]
• Orienting Labour Party - POT (Partido Orientador Trabalhista)
• Christian Democratic Party (1945) [pt] - PDC (Partido Democrata Cristão)
• Social Democratic Party (1945) - PSD (Partido Social Democrático)
• Republican Party - PR (Partido Republicano)
• Popular Representation Party - PRP (Partido de Representação Popular)
• National Labour Party - PTN (Partido Trabalhista Nacional)
• Social Labour Party (1946) [pt] - PST (Partido Social Trabalhista)^[j]
• Social Progressive Party - PSP (Partido Social Progressista)^[k]
• Republican Labour Party [pt] - PRT (Partido Republicano Trabalhista)^[l]
• Renewal Labour Movement [pt] - MTR (Movimento Trabalhista Renovador)

Military Dictatorship (1964–1985)

• National Renewal Alliance - ARENA (Aliança Renovadora Nacional)
• Popular Party [pt] - PP (Partido Popular)

See also

• Politics of Brazil
• List of political parties by country

Notes

1. Part of the Centrão.^[15][16][17]
2. Merger of the Brazilian Labour Party and Patriota, political parties that were part of the Centrão.^[15]
3. Kim Kataguiri, deputy from the state of São Paulo;^[28] officially affiliated to Brazil Union.^[29]
4. Guto Zacarias [pt], member of the Legislative Assembly of São Paulo;^[28] officially affiliated to Brazil Union.^[30]
5. Known from 1985 to 2007 as the Party of the Liberal Front (Partido da Frente Liberal).
6. Known from 1995 to 1998 as the National Solidarist Party (Partido Solidarista Nacional), and from 1998 to 2000 as the Party of National Solidarity (Partido da Solidariedade Nacional).
7. Known from 2011 to 2017 as the National Ecological Party (Partido Ecológico Nacional).
8. Also called Progressive Party.
9. Known from 1945 to 1947 as the Democratic Left (Esquerda Democrática).
10. Known from 1946 to 1947 as the Proletarian Party of Brazil (Partido Proletário do Brasil).
11. Created from the merger of three parties: the National Agrarian Party (Partido Agrário Nacional), the Popular Syndicalist Party (Partido Popular Sindicalista) and the Progressive Republican Party (Partido Republicano Progressista).
12. Known from 1958 until its dissolution in 1965 as the Rural Labour Party (Partido Rural Trabalhista).