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 5 multi-member constituencies: the game models Brazil as five macro-regional states (Norte, Nordeste, Centro-Oeste, Sudeste, Sul), each electing a block of deputies sized by population. 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, allocated across the five macro-regional states by population and 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 five macro-regional constituencies 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: each state's block of senators splits across two alternating 8-year classes, so only part of the chamber is up in any cycle.

• 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.