FEDERAL REPUBLIC OF BRAZIL Official name: Republica Federativa do Brasil (Federal Republic of Brazil) Location: South America International organisations: Organisation of American States, United Nations, World Trade Organisation Borders: Argentina, Bolivia, Colombia, French Guiana, Guyana, Paraguay, Peru, Surinam, Uruguay, Venezuela Coastline: Atlantic Ocean Land area: 8,511,965 Km2 Population: 176,000,000 Ethnicity: European (mainly Portuguese, but also Italian, Germany, Spanish and others) 55%, African origin 6%, mixed race 40%. There is a large Japanese community in Sao Paolo.

Languages: Portuguese is the official language. Indigenous languages survive in the interior.
Religion: More than 80% of the population are at least nominally Catholic Christians. Protestant denominations are growing rapidly. There are small Jewish and Moslem communities.
Form of government: Federal presidential democratic republic. Brazil is divided into 26 states and one federal district. The states retain considerable legislative autonomy.

Capital: Brasilia
Constitution: The Constitution of Brazil came into effect on 5 October 1988.
Head of state: The President, elected by direct universal suffrage for a four-year term. The President can be removed from office by a process of impeachment.
Head of government: The President, who appoints the members of the Cabinet.
Legislature: The National Congress (Congresso Nacional) is a bicameral legislature. The lower house is the Chamber of Deputies, which has 513 members elected by proportional representation from the states for four-year terms. The upper house is the Federal Senate, which has 81 members (three from each state and the federal district) elected for eight-year terms.
Electoral authority: The Superior Electoral Tribunal controls national elections.
Freedom House 2005 rating: Political Rights 2, Civil Liberties 3

Political history

Brazil was a Portuguese colony from 1533 until it declared its independence in 1822. After 67 years as a monarchy it became a republic in 1889. Although constitutional government and a facade of democracy were established, Brazil was ruled by a small oligarchy of landowners. From 1930 to 1945 Getúlio Vargas presided over a semi-fascist regime. After 1946 a more genuine democracy was established, but in 1965 President Joăo Goulart was overthrown in a coup. From 1965 to 1985 Brazil was ruled by a military regime.

Tancredo Neves

Brazil was unlucky in its return to democracy. Its first elected President after 1985, Tancredo Neves, died before taking office. Its second, Fernando Collor de Melo, was impeached for corruption. Not until Fernando Henrique Cardoso was elected in 1994 did Brazil get a strong and successful President. Cardoso applied free-market policies and ended Brazil's chronic inflation. But Brazil remains a country of huge social inequality, between classes, regions and races. Although Cardoso was re-elected in 1998, by 2002 the electorate was ready for a turn to the left. The veteran socialist candidate Luiz "Lula" Da Silva easily won the 2002 Presidential election, becoming Brazil's first working-class President. Brazil has a vigorous multi-party system. The most important political parties are President Da Silva's Workers' Party, which is more populist than socialist, and former President Cardoso's Brazilian Social-Democratic Party, which despite its name is a party of free-market liberals.

Other parties on the left are the Brazilian Labour Party , the Brazilian Socialist Party, the Democratic Labour Party, the Socialist People's Party and the Communist Party of Brazil. The Green Party is of little importance.

On the right are the Party of the Liberal Front, the Party of the Brazilian Democratic Movement, the Brazilian Progressive Party (which despite its name is a far-right party), and the Liberal Party.

Presidential and Congressional elections will be held in October 2006.