Brazilian parties increasingly delegate candidate choices to small committees

Brazilian political parties are increasingly sidestepping their own conventions, a crucial moment meant for deciding candidacies, and instead delegating these choices to executive committees. This shift means that decisions once made by a broader party assembly are now concentrated in the hands of a select few, often a single leader. The trend is particularly evident in center and right-wing parties, such as the Republicanos and PSDB, where the delegation of candidate selection to executive bodies has risen significantly.

Data from party conventions between 2018 and 2026 reveals a notable increase in this practice. While the proportion of conventions choosing not to field their own candidates has remained stable, the power to select who runs has shifted dramatically. Between 2018 and 2026, the percentage of cases where executive committees were tasked with choosing candidates jumped from 12% to 36%. For center-right parties, this figure reached 46% in 2026, compared to 29% for center-left and left-wing parties. This concentration of power can even extend to executive committees having the authority to revise decisions already made by the convention itself, including those concerning candidacies and coalitions.

This practice, while undermining the convention as a decisive forum, is reportedly sanctioned by the Electoral Justice system. Since at least 2002, the Superior Electoral Court (TSE) has deemed it permissible for conventions to delegate candidate selection to executive committees, even without specifying names beforehand. This contrasts with the scrutiny applied to provisional committees, which sometimes replace party directories. The Supreme Federal Court (STF) previously limited the duration of these provisional bodies, citing concerns that appointed, rather than elected, leaders could undermine internal democracy. The current trend of delegating candidate selection raises similar concerns about the erosion of internal party democracy and a growing disconnect between parties and the broader society.