Kassab: ‘We didn’t give up the district vote’

The national president of the PSD, Gilberto Kassab, said that the party “will not give up” on the proposal to change the electoral system from proportional to district and said that the issue “has progressed a lot” in recent years. “Very possibly, in the next two months, the president (of the Chamber) Hugo Motta (Republicanos-PB) will be composing the commission that will forward this project. And I don’t think it is difficult to vote or approve this year, because it does not affect this election, it will be valid for 2030”, he assessed in an interview with Free Channelfrom Band.

In the current system, deputies and councilors are elected using the proportional system, which takes into account the performance of parties and coalitions. In the district system, voters vote for candidates running within a specific district, and the person with the most votes in each region guarantees the seat.

“We don’t give up on district voting, it’s one of Brazil’s biggest problems. The lack of legitimacy of our parliamentarians, people don’t even remember who voted, the person elected by a region never comes back, the district vote brings quality in monitoring the elected person”, he stated.

Another policy defended by Kassab in the interview was “raising the bar in the appointment of nominees from regulatory agencies”. In his assessment, the agencies are “hostages to politics, parties, parliamentarians, which is catastrophic for the quality of our concessions”.

He also criticized the method of distribution and execution of parliamentary amendments. “It’s an excrescence, it doesn’t make any sense to have R$70 billion available for parliamentary amendments. With this resource you can create, here in the city of São Paulo, two subway lines per year. If it were to be had or if it is to continue, they should be transparent and linked to federal government programs”, he highlighted.