Federal Senate

Federal Senate Senado Federal
55th Legislature of the National Congress
Coat of arms of Brazil
Type
Type	Upper house of the National Congress of Brazil
Term limits	None
History
Founded	May 6, 1826 (1826-05-06)
New session started	February 2, 2016 (2016-02-02)
Leadership
President	Eunício Oliveira, PMDB Since 1 February 2017
Majority Leader	Aloysio Nunes, PSDB
Minority Leader	Lindbergh Farias, PT
Structure
Seats	81
Political groups	Government (64) Government Support Bloc (64)      PMDB (19)      PSDB (11)      PSB (7)      PP (6)      DEM (4)      PSD (4)      PR (4)      PTB (3)      PSC (2)      PRB (1)      PPS (1)      PV (1)      PTC (1) Minority (17) Opposition Bloc (11)      PT (10)      PCdoB (1) Independent Bloc (6)      PDT (3)      REDE (1)      Independents (2)
Length of term	Eight years
Elections
Voting system	Plurality voting, alternating every four years between single-member elections (FPTP) and dual-member elections (Block voting)
Last election	October 5, 2014
Next election	October 7, 2018
Meeting place
Senate plenary chamber National Congress Palace Brasília, Federal District, Brazil
Website
http://www.senado.gov.br

Government (64)

Minority (17)

The Federal Senate (Portuguese: Senado Federal) is the upper house of the National Congress of Brazil. Created by the first Constitution of the Brazilian Empire in 1824, it was initially similar to the United Kingdom's House of Lords. Since the Proclamation of the Republic in 1889 the Federal Senate has resembled the United States Senate.

Currently, the Senate comprises 81 seats. Three Senators from each of the 26 states and three Senators from the Federal District are elected on a majority basis to serve eight-year terms. Elections are staggered so that two-thirds of the upper house is up for election at one time and the remaining one-third four years later. When one seat is up for election in each State, each voter casts one vote for the Senate; when two seats are up for election, each voter casts two votes, and the voter cannot give his two votes for the same candidate, but, in elections for the renewal of two-thirds of the Senate, each party can present two candidates for election. The candidate in each State and the Federal District (or the first two candidates, when two thirds of the seats are up for election) who achieve the greatest plurality of votes are elected.

The current president of the Brazilian Senate is Eunício Oliveira, from the Brazilian Democratic Movement Party of Ceará. He was elected in early 2017 for a two-year term.

The Federal Senate of Brazil was established as the Senate of the Empire by the Constitution of 1824, first enacted after the Declaration of Independence.