First off a distinction must be made between a Block, a Coalition and a Front. All these topics mean different things and all are present at the same time.

A front (in Portuguese, “Bancada”) is a broad and vague union that unites politicians under a geographic area or a particular socio-economic topic. The “North-Eastern” front or the “Sugar Cane” front, for instances, are the same way that Americans will refer to a “Agriculture block” in the US. A front can include disparate parties or even different politicians from different parties. A front is not the subject of this investigation.

A block is a legal legislative entity recognized by Brazilian law. In it, a band of parties that will unite together and act, debate and vote with unanimity.

There are three main blocks in the Brazilian Congress:

PT; 87

PMDB; 79

PSB, PTB, PCdB block, 63PSDB; 50

PSD; 49

PR, PTdB, PRP, PHS, PTC, PSL,

block, 44

PP; 37

DEM; 26

PDT; 26

PV, PPS Block; 20PSC; 16 PRB; 10PSOL; 3 PMN; 2 PRTB; 1

PSB, PTB, PCdB block – 63 seats or 12.3% of the Congress. Its parties are all moderate to radical leftist parties.

PR, PTdB, PRP,PHS,PTC,PSL block – 44 seats or 8.5% of Congress. This block is a more pragmatic one as it is made of fringe parties; only the PTdB and the PR are parties that, in terms of affiliate size, have some weight to them. Although each party has different ideological agendas, they can be generally grouped under a Centrist/Populist umbrella.

PV, PPS Block – 20 seats or 3.7%. A Green/Left block that is independent from big political players.

And in the Senate:

PMDB; 19

PT; 13

PSDB; 9PR; 7

PTB; 6

Dem; 5

PDT; 5

PP; 5

PSB; 3

PCdB; 2

PSD; 2

PSOL; 2PRB; 1PSC; 1 PV; 1

PMDB

PT

PSDB

PR

PTB

Dem

PDT

PP

PSB

PCdB

PSD

PSOL

PRB

PSC

PV

The Governmental (PT, PMDB, PTB, PP, PSB). Technically speaking, this is not a block. This is the main representative parties of the Government, appointed by the President. This block has a total of 46 seats or 56% of the voting power.

The Government’s Auxiliary Block, (Lead by a member of the PT) PDT, PSB, PCdB, PRB). Not counting the PT, this block has 11 seats or a total of 13.5% of the voting power.

The Majority Block, normally a name given to any party or block that has a simple majority. Since no one has this, the title is nominally given to the largest single party, in this case the PMDB. 19 Seats, 23.4% of the votes.

The Minority block – Party or Block second in number to the Government “block” and is in opposition to this assumes the title. It is formed by the PSDB and the Democrats. 14 seats, 17.2% of the votes.

Of the remaining independent parties – PR, PSD, PSOL, PSC, PV – the total number of seats is 11, or 13.5% of the votes.

Then there is a Coalition. This is a term applies more directly to elections, but coalitions tend to be the alliances that occur post election. In a coalition, parties will band together under a single flag and pan votes, supporting each other candidates and granting concessions in posts. In the Federal level, a candidate with excess votes can “give” the votes he or she doesn’t need to other candidates in his party or Coalition. This happened, in the last election, most notably with the TV Comedian “Tiririca”. Running for PR congressional post and using both a humorous campaign and panning to the disillusionment of the Brazilian populace with its politicians (His slogan was “Vote for me, because it can’t get worse than this”) Francisco Oliveira Silva, his given name, won more votes than anyone else in the Congressional elections: over 1.3 million. This greatly helped his party and its coalition, that being lead by PT and the PMDB, current allies in the government.

So in a round-about way The Dilma government is an alliance, arguably loose, between the PT, PMDB, PTB, PSB, PCdB and PP. The designation is a general assumption, since allied politicians, even in the federal sphere (even within Dilma’s own party), will converge or diverge depending on the issue and circumstances. The PT is dependent, above all else, on the PMDB’s support, without which it will be have lost significant voting power in the Congress and would be outnumbered in the Senate.

Rio de Janeiro

Rio de Janeiro is Governed by Sergio Cabral, a former PSDB politician turned PMDB. His Vice-Governor, Luiz Fernando de Souza, is also PMDB.

Assembly

PMDB; 12

PDT; 11

PT; 6

PSD; 6PR; 6

PSB; 4PSDB; 3

PSC; 3

PPS; 3

PV; 2

PSOL; 2PRB; 2

PP; 2PTN; 1

PTdB; 1PTB; 1 PSL; 1PSDC; 1 PRTB; 1PMN ; 1PCdB; 1

Total of 70 seats