Progressive Party (Brazil)

Progressive Party
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President	Francisco Dornelles
Founded	1995 (as PPB) April 4, 2003 (as PP)
Merger of	Reform Progressive Party, Christian Democratic Party
Headquarters	Senado Federal - Anexo - 17º Andar, Brasília
Ideology	Liberal conservatism Conservatism Economic liberalism Right-wing populism
Political position	Centre-right
International affiliation	None
Colours	Blue and Red
TSE Identification Number	11
Seats in the Chamber of Deputies	38 / 513
Seats in the Senate	4 / 81
Party flag
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Website
www.pp.org.br
Politics of Brazil Political parties Elections

The Progressive party (Portuguese: Partido Progressista, PP) is a centre-right and conservative-liberal political party in Brazil.

History

Founded in 1995, as Brazilian Progressive Party (PPB), by the union of:

• the Reform Progressive Party, founded in 1993 by Democratic Social Party and Christian Democratic Party;
• the Progressive Party, founded in 1993 by the Social Labour Party and the Reform Labour Party.

The party entered in coalition with the Brazilian Social Democracy Party and the Liberal Front Party, supporting President Fernando Henrique Cardoso.

In 2003 the party re-changed its name to the Progressive Party. PP has also supported the Workers' Party-led government since 2003.

At the parliamentary elections, held in October 2006, the party won 42 of the 513 seats in the chamber of deputies, and it has 1 of the 81 seats in the Senate. At the 2010 elections, PP won 41 seats in the Chamber of Deputies, and made gains in the Senate for a total of 5 seats. It lost an extremely close gubernatorial runoff in Roraima to the PSDB, and won no state governorships.

Its most well-known politicians are Paulo Maluf, mayor and governor of São Paulo for several terms; Jair Bolsonaro, controversial nationalist congressman; Esperidião Amin, former governor of Santa Catarina and senator; and Francisco Dornelles, former minister of Labour and senator for Rio de Janeiro (state).

The party has from its very beginning shown a tendency for regional division, with the section from Rio Grande do Sul state often threatening with secession, in part due to what is viewed by them as condescendence of the party's national direction towards members involved in corruption scandals, including Paulo Maluf (who has recently been discharged from his post as de facto leader of PP). The national orientation of the party has been one of close alliance with Lula's Workers' Party government (except on issues sensitive to the right wing core of PP, such as taxes), while the section of Rio Grande do Sul once more show a defiant stance in aligning itself more often with the opposition.

References

Preceded by 10 - BRP (PRB)

Numbers of Brazilian Official Political Parties 11 - PP

Succeeded by 12 - DLP (PDT)