The Constitutional Status of the President of the Federative Republic of Brazil as Head of State — a Member of the BRICS

Аннотация

This article is devoted to the analysis of the constitutional status of the President of Brazil, as guaranteed by the Brazilian constitution, vis-à-vis the statuses of heads of states of other BRICS countries. Although the president’s position is outlined in the national constitution, it takes into account the country’s federative structure: the president (Presidente da República) acts as the representative of the union internally and represents Brazil abroad. The presidential term of four years is one of the shortest when compared to other BRICS countries. The president is elected directly by the Brazilian people. Direct election is more typical in countries with presidential governments, where the direct mandate provides a higher degree of legitimacy to the executive office. The office term can end early for three reasons: 1) conviction for the commitment of crimes de responsabilidade (crimes of malversation) by resolution of the Federal Senate, or by sentence of the Federal Supreme Court on commitment of infrações comuns (common criminal offenses); 2) in the event of death, resignation, loss to the right to vote or loss of citizenship; 3) resolution of the National Congress to declare the office vacant. In Brazil, as well as in India and South Africa, the president is the country’s chief executive. The president’s powers are classified into three categories: deriving from his/her role as the head of a state, the head of government, or the head of federal administration. The President of Brazil, like the president of Russia, has the strongest position of authority in the higher bodies of the governmental system.