The diffuse electoral cost of ignoring public opinion on the amendment spree

Despite the "secret budget" being officially defunct, the practice of allocating billions of reais through opaque parliamentary amendments persists in Brazil. A new study highlights that six out of ten municipalities either have or are establishing their own parliamentary amendment systems, revealing the pervasive influence of these funds on local budgets and potential resource misallocations.

“

Eight out of ten respondents associated parliamentary amendments with corruption, doubting that the resources had the correct destination.

Public opinion has consistently shown distrust towards parliamentary amendments, with a Genial/Quaest poll indicating 82% of respondents associate them with corruption and doubt their proper destination. This sentiment mirrors the public's reaction to the "secret budget" mechanism, introduced in 2020 and widely criticized for its distorted use of funds, leading even its proponents to distance themselves from it.

“

the secret budget could be dead in name (and with remaining payments, forgive the funereal pun), but the spree of allocating tens of billions of reais with obscure criteria by the National Congress continues.

During the 2022 presidential campaign, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva leveraged the "secret budget" as a political weapon against his opponent, deeming it worse than the Mensalão scandal. Ironically, his administration has since overseen record allocations in parliamentary amendments, with nearly R$34 billion released in the run-up to an election year, distributed according to congressional directives.

“

the mechanism was worse than Mensalão

This persistent practice demonstrates a clear disregard by the political class for the majority of Brazilians, who prefer public funds to be applied to public policies in a technical, coordinated, and transparent manner. The recent blocking of assets by the Supreme Court of figures like former federal deputies Eduardo Cunha and Valdemar Costa Neto, under suspicion of undue influence on amendment allocations, confirms public suspicions and fuels voter indignation.

“

the political class, from the situation to the opposition, including the Centrão, has ignored the opinion of the majority of Brazilians, who would like to see the money from their taxes being applied in public policies in a technical, coordinated and transparent way.