Brazil

Brazil is a federal presidential republic: South America's largest democracy, with a directly elected President, a bicameral National Congress, and a fragmented multi-party system. The President serves a fixed 4-year term with a 2-term limit per character. Brazil's open-list proportional representation produces a highly fragmented legislature where coalition-building is essential despite the presidential system.

Government structure#

The President is both head of state and head of government: directly elected for a fixed 4-year term. There is no parliamentary confidence vote. A 2-term limit per character applies, and a second-term run blocks running-mate selection (the VP cannot be changed on a re-election bid).

The National Congress is bicameral and both chambers participate in the player legislative loop: bills require passage in both the Chamber of Deputies and the Federal Senate.

National congress#

Brazil's legislature has two chambers:

• Chamber of Deputies: 513 Federal Deputies elected by open-list proportional representation from 27 multi-member constituencies (the 26 states plus the Federal District). 4-year terms. All seats are contested each cycle. The Chamber is the primary legislative body and the source of the coalition threshold.
• Federal Senate: 81 senators (3 per state plus 3 for the Federal District), serving 8-year staggered terms. One-third and two-thirds of seats alternate per cycle (2 classes). The Senate reviews legislation from the Chamber and can amend or reject bills.

Coalition threshold#

The coalition threshold is 257 seats (a bare majority of the 513-seat Chamber of Deputies: 513 / 2 + 1). A party or coalition holding 257+ seats controls the Chamber.

Unlike parliamentary systems, the threshold does not determine who governs: the President is directly elected and serves a fixed term regardless of legislative composition. Instead, the 257-seat threshold matters for legislative agenda control: which party chairs committees, drives floor votes, and can override a presidential veto (a 2/3 supermajority in both chambers).

Brazil's open-list PR system produces extreme party fragmentation: no single party has won an outright Chamber majority in modern history. Governing coalitions typically span 5 to 10 parties. The two major parties are PT (Workers' Party, centre-left) and PL (Liberal Party, centre-right), but dozens of smaller parties hold decisive swing votes.

How Brazilian elections work#

Brazil uses two different electoral systems for its two chambers:

Chamber of Deputies: open-list PR (D'Hondt)#

Federal Deputies are elected by open-list proportional representation using the D'Hondt divisor method. Each of the 27 multi-member constituencies (states + Federal District) elects a block of deputies proportional to the state's population. Voters cast a vote for an individual candidate, and seats are allocated to parties by vote share, then ordered by individual candidate vote totals within each party list.

• All 513 seats are contested each 4-year cycle.
• No 5% threshold: Brazil has no formal vote-share threshold to enter the Chamber, unlike Germany's Sperrklausel. Fragmentation is the natural outcome.
• Primaries advance the top 3 candidates per party per region.

Federal Senate: FPTP staggered#

Senators are elected by First Past the Post (FPTP) from statewide constituencies: 3 senators per state, one or two contested per cycle on alternating 8-year classes.

• Partial seats contested: only one class of Senate seats is up per cycle (2 classes).
• Single-member constituencies for each contested seat.
• No snap elections: the Senate cannot be dissolved.

Presidential elections#

The President is directly elected by nationwide popular vote (no electoral college). A 2-term limit per character applies. A character who has served two full terms cannot run again. A second-term run blocks VP running-mate selection: the incumbent VP is locked onto the ticket.

Brazil has no parliamentary confidence vote. The President serves the full 4-year term regardless of congressional composition. Divided government is the default: one party holds the presidency while a rival coalition controls one or both chambers of Congress. Bills require passage in both chambers and presidential signature. The President can veto legislation; Congress can override with a 2/3 supermajority.

Key Brazilian mechanics#

Two-term presidential limit. A character cannot serve more than two terms as President. The limit is per-character, not per-party. A second-term run locks the VP running mate: the incumbent VP cannot be swapped.

Bicameral legislative loop. Both the Chamber and the Senate are player-contestable. Bills must pass both chambers to enact. There is no upper-chamber override asymmetry: both chambers have equal legislative weight.

Fragmented legislature. Open-list PR with no threshold produces 20+ parties in the Chamber. Coalition management is the central strategic challenge: even a unified presidential party needs allied blocs to pass legislation.

Staggered Senate. Only one class of Senate seats is up per cycle (2 classes, 8-year terms). Plan your Senate run for the correct class in your home state.

No snap elections. Both chambers have fixed terms. The President cannot dissolve Congress. No-confidence votes do not exist: the President serves the full term.

Party creation routes through a charter. Founding a new party requires drafting a Party Charter co-signed by 3 human founders. Brazil requires 3 states + locked home = 4 states × 2 NPPs = 8 NPPs spawned on creation.

Social axis baseline 0. Brazil starts at the center of the −5…+5 social axis. Drifts toward the social stance of enacted national laws over time.

Career path for Brazilian players#

Brazil has no sub-national legislature. The first rung of national play is a Federal Deputy seat, contested via open-list PR in your home state.

Currency and economy#

Economic model#

Brazil has four seeded start years: 1953, 1979, 1991, and 2019 (the default). Each start authors its own national baseline and per-region tilts for the full set of Brazil's tracked economic, education, healthcare, infrastructure, and social metrics, so the starting economy looks materially different depending on which era you launch into:

A 1953 or 1979 start begins earlier in Brazil's industrialization arc; a 1991 start begins in hyperinflation and opens up over time through play; a 2019 start begins as a resource-extraction economy already integrated into modern global trade.

Brazil's monetary baseline also shifts by era: the game tracks a target inflation rate and a neutral prime rate per country, and Brazil's central bank Taylor rule reacts to the gap between actual and target inflation. The default (modern) target is 4% inflation with an 8% neutral prime rate. Earlier starts use different era-appropriate anchors: the 1953 anchor holds Brazil's target at 4%/8% (same as default, since 1953 Brazil is authored as running policy-target inflation rather than the historical Vargas-era CPI spike), while the 1979 anchor moves the target to 12% inflation with a 15% neutral prime rate, reflecting the military-regime "miracle" hangover. These anchors set what the BCB's Taylor rule treats as "on target," not a fixed rate that never moves: actual in-game inflation and the prime rate still respond to real conditions each turn.

Key Brazil links#

• Election Mechanics: Primary and general election rules
• Multi-Country Play: PR vs FPTP, cross-border investments
• Core Systems: Turn structure, action economy
• Player Progression: Career ladder details
• Campaign Strategy: Fundraising, ads, canvassing

Living history#

The timeline below is written by the turn processor whenever a presidential transition or national-scope bill enactment happens in-game. Each entry is a real event from this save.

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