The Hindu Editorial Analysis- 7th November 2022 | Current Affairs & Hindu Analysis: Daily, Weekly & Monthly - UPSC PDF Download

Context

• Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva emerged as the President of Brazil for the third time after he defeated the incumbent President Jair Bolsonaro in fierce voting.

Who is Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva?

• Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, who is also known as Lula, is a Brazilian Politician and trade unionist. After serving as the 35th President of Brazil from 2003 to 2010, Lula is the current president-elect of Brazil and is expected to be inaugurated as the 39th President of the country.
• Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva was a founding member of the left-wing workers’ party. He ran unsuccessfully for President three times before achieving victory in the 2022 Brazilian General Election and he was re-elected in 2006.
• During his lifetime in office, Lula introduced sweeping social programs including Bolsa Familia and Fome Zero which aimed at combating poverty and lifting the station of the country’s working class.
• As a President, he also played a prominent role in international matters including the activities related to the Nuclear Program of Iran and climate change. Lula is described as a man with audacious ambitions to alter the balance of power among the nations.

Brazil Presidential Elections 2022: Key Points

• Brazil's Presidential Elections this year allowed for the eligibility of more than 156 million people to cast their votes.
•  The winning candidate Lula focused his campaign on getting his opponent Bolsonaro out of the office and highlighted his past achievements throughout his campaign.
• Bolsonaro ran for re-election under the Conservative-Liberal Party. Throughout his campaign, he has promised to increase mining, privatizes public companies, and generate the most sustainable energy to bring down energy prices.
• Brazil General Elections were held on October 2, 2022, to elect the President, Vice-President, Governors, National Congress, Vice-Governors, and legislative assemblies of all the federative units.

What do we know about Brazil Electoral System?

• The President and Vice-President of Brazil are elected as a joint ticket using the two-round system. A candidate who received more than 50% of the total valid votes in the first round is elected and if the 50 percent threshold is not met by any candidate, the two candidates who receive the most votes in the first round participate in the second round of voting and the candidate who receives the most votes in the second round is elected.\

How is the India's President elected?

• The Indian President is elected through an electoral college system, wherein the votes are cast by national and State-level lawmakers.
• The elections are conducted and overseen by the Election Commission (EC) of India.
• The electoral college is made up of all the elected members of the Upper and Lower Houses of Parliament (Rajya Sabha and Lok Sabha MPs), and the elected Members of the Legislative Assemblies of States and Union Territories (MLAs).
• Related Constitutional Provisions:
• Article 54: Election of President
• Article 55: Manner of election of President.
• Article 56 :Term of office of President
• Article 57: Eligibility for re-election.
• Article 58: Qualifications for election as President

Procedure:

• Before the voting, comes the nomination stage, where the candidate intending to stand in the election, files the nomination along with a signed list of 50 proposers and 50 seconders.
• These proposers and seconders can be anyone from the total members of the electoral college from the State and national level.
• The rule for securing 50 proposers and seconders was implemented when the EC noticed, in 1974, that several candidates, many without even a bleak chance of winning, would file their nominations to contest the polls.
• An elector cannot propose or second the nomination of more than one candidate.

What is the value of each vote and how is it calculated?

• A vote cast by each MP or MLA is not calculated as one vote.
• The fixed value of each vote by an MP of the Rajya Sabha and the Lok Sabha is 700.
• Meanwhile, the vote value of each MLA differs from State to State based on a calculation that factors in its population vis-a-vis the number of members in its legislative Assembly.
• As per the Constitution (Eighty-fourth Amendment) Act 2001, currently, the population of States is taken from the figures of the 1971 Census. This will change when the figures of the Census taken after the year 2026 are published.
• The value of each MLA’s vote is determined by dividing the population of the State by the number of MLAs in its legislative Assembly, and the quotient achieved is further divided by 1000.
• Uttar Pradesh for instance, has the highest vote value for each of its MLAs, at 208. The value of one MLA’s vote in Maharashtra is 175, while that in Arunachal Pradesh is just 8.

What is required to secure a victory?

• A nominated candidate does not secure victory based on a simple majority but through a system of bagging a specific quota of votes. While counting, the EC totals up all the valid votes cast by the electoral college through paper ballots and to win, the candidate must secure 50% of the total votes cast + 1.
• Unlike general elections, where electors vote for a single party’s candidate, the voters of the electoral college write the names of candidates on the ballot paper in the order of preference.
• The President’s election is held in accordance with the system of proportional representation by means of the single transferable vote and the voting is by secret ballot.

Can the President be Impeached?

• According to Article 61, the President can be removed from his office before the expiry of his term only on the grounds of violation of the constitution.
• However, the Constitution does not define the meaning of the phrase ‘violation of the constitution’.
• The impeachment process can be started from any house of the parliament by levelling charges against him.
• The notice bearing the charges against the president must be signed by at least a quarter of the members of the house.
• The resolution to impeach the president must be passed by a special majority (two-thirds) in the originating house.
• Next, it is sent to the other house for consideration. The other house acts as the investigating horse. A select committee is formed to investigate the charges labelled against the president.
• During the process, the President of India has the right to defend himself through authorised counsel. He can choose to defend himself or appoint any person/lawyer or attorney general of India to do so.