O jardim secreto das seleções: processos partidários para elaboração das listas de candidatos a vereador nas eleições de 2016 em Salvador

Abstract

The main objective of this thesis is to analyze how party organizations select their candidates in the Brazilian political and electoral system by comparing the selection processes carried out by twelve parties (PT, DEM, MDB, PSDB, PSB, PPS, PV, PRB, PSC, PTN, PCdoB and PSOL), based on the position of city councilor in the 2016 elections in the capital of Bahia. As well as understanding electoral strategies, the formal and informal rules that interfere with the composition of the final lists. The paper is theoretically embedded in the field of study that has not yet been studied in Brazil, which considers the selection of candidates as a crucial part of legislative recruitment within political parties. For this comparative purpose, the concept of institutionalization of the organizational model of Panebianco (2005) is used. With such a theoretical model, we try to answer the following question: To what extent does the degree of institutionalization of party organizations affect the differences between candidate selection processes? This thesis sought to understand the following dimensions of selection: the first was to delve into the electoral strategies adopted by the parties; the second dimension was the analysis of the formal rules present in electoral and statutory legislation; the third and main stage consisted in unraveling the secret garden of the informal rules of selection through in-depth interviews with the gatekeepers of these parties to demonstrate in real life how they control the drafting of the final lists of nominations; and finally through the application of 120 questionnaires between the other actors involved (candidates and non-candidates), it was also intended to discuss the profiles of these actors, to compare the information provided by the leaders and to discover other informalities in the selection. In addition to these dimensions, the research sought to investigate one of the consequences of the party function of selecting candidates: demographic representativeness through the social composition of the actors involved in recruitment and party lists. The conclusion reached is that party leaders decide and control the selection processes, however limited by electoral strategies and less by the informal rules that they establish.