Brazil, February 11, 2011.

Now we have the names. Francisco Dornelles (PP-RJ) will lead a 45 days task force at the Brazilian Congress to write the proposal for a political reform.

These are the guys we will be watching at:

• Itamar Franco (former president, PPS-MG);
• Fernando Collor (former president, PTB-AL);
• Aécio Neves (PSDB-MG);
• Demóstenes Torres (DEM-GO);
• Roberto Requião (PMDB-PR);
• Luiz Henrique (PMDB-SC);
• Wellington Dias (PT-PI);
• Jorge Viana (PT-AC);
• Pedro Taques (PDT-MT);
• Antônio Carlos Valadares (PSB-SE);
• Eduardo Braga (PMDB-AM).

The Brazilian political reform is an old and controversial that has been coming and going on Brasilia since 1997 during Fernando Henrique Cardoso’s government. The main points of the reform include closed list voting and public campaign financing.

These points are very familiar to some of the readers here but Brazilian people usually feel a little skeptical about them. I’ll be back with more information this month.

Tadeu Santos