Brazil’s party system and electoral system

The reproduction of the power bloc

Abstract

This article examines the relationship between the electoral system and the party system in Brazil through the lens of Nicos Poulantzas’ theory of the State. The research problem consists in understanding how electoral reforms imple- mented between 1988 and 2024 participate in the constitution and reproduction of the party system as an expression of the power bloc. The article aims to assess the heuristic potential of the categories of institutional materiality, relative auto- nomy of the state, power bloc, and hegemony in interpreting recent transformations of Brazilian political representation. Methodologically, the research combines theoretical review, documentary analysis of electoral legislation, and empirical data analysis from the Brazilian Superior Electoral Court and the Chamber of Deputies, grounded in historical-dialectical materialism. The results indicate that electoral reforms have fostered the concentration of political and financial resources, partially reduced party fragmentation, but preserved the need for broad parliamentary coalitions. The article concludes that the electoral system constitutes an institutional mediation of class struggle and of the political or- ganization of the power bloc, reinforcing mechanisms for the reproduction of conservative hegemony in Brazilian dependent capitalism.