Congress approves an increase from 513 to 531 deputies; Text goes to Lula’s sanction

The National Congress approved on Wednesday (25) the bill that increases the number of federal deputies from 513 to 531. The proposal was voted by the Senate with changes that limit the tax impact of the measure and, hours later, confirmed by the Chamber of Deputies in lightning vote.

The text now goes to the sanction of President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva (PT).

Change occurs in response to a Federal Supreme Court (STF) decision, which required a redistribution of chairs based on the population’s population, measured by the 2022 census.

Read more: increase in the number of deputies threatens to inflate public spending and could end up in the STF

To avoid the loss of representation of some federation units, Congress chose to expand the total chairs instead of redistributing the current 513.

With this, states such as Pará and Santa Catarina will earn four vacancies each; Amazonas, Mato Grosso and Rio Grande do Norte will have two more; and Goiás, Ceará, Paraná and Minas Gerais will receive a new chair each.

The bill faced resistance in the Senate, with attempts to postpone 2034 and a tight vote on the urgent request (43 votes to 30).

Nevertheless, it was approved after articulation of the Senate President, David Alcolumbre (Brazil-AP Union), who traveled the plenary asking for votes on behalf of an agreement with the House.

The final writing incorporated a clause that prohibits the increase in expenses, soothing part of the criticism of the fiscal impact of the proposal – initially estimated at R $ 65 million per year.

Still, experts point out that there will be reflexes in the states, as the number of state deputies is proportional to that of federal, according to the Constitution.

The bill was mainly articulated by the House as a way to preserve state benches of states that would lose representation in redistribution.

Only four parties guided a vote contrary to the measure: PSOL, New, Network and Citizenship.