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Responses to Information Requests - Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada Canada.ca Services Departments Français Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada Refugee Claims Refugee Appeals Admissibility Hearings Detention Reviews HomeImmigrationResearch Appeals Program Responses to Information Requests National Responses to Information Requests Documentation Packages Recent Research Responses to Information Requests (RIR) respond to focused Requests for Information that are submitted to the Research Directorate in the course of the Responses to refugee protection determination process. The database contains a seven-year Information Requests archive of English and French RIRs. Earlier RIRs may be found on the UNHCR's Refworld website. Please note that some RIRs have attachments which are not electronically accessible. To obtain a PDF copy of an RIR attachment, please email the Knowledge and Information Management Unit. 28 October 2016 BRA105668.E Brazil: Information on the Party of National Mobilization (Partido da Mobilização Nacional, PMN), including political platform and objectives; information on membership procedures; information on the treatment of PMN members by authorities (2014-October 2016) Research Directorate, Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada, Ottawa 1. Overview According to a 1999 Working Paper by Scott Mainwaring et al. and published by the Helen Kellogg Institute for International Studies at the University of Notre Dame, the Party of National Mobilization (Partido da Mobilização Nacional, PMN) was created in 1985 (Mainwaring et al. Mar. 1999, [18]). Europa World Online indicates that the PMN was founded in 1984 (n.d.). Without providing further detail, a report on party configuration in the Brazilian Chamber of Deputies from 1998 to 2010 authored by Ana Lúcia Henrique of the Brazilian Chamber of Deputies, states that the PMN was "registered" in October 1990 (Henrique 29 May 2009, 28). According to Europa World Online, the President of the PMN is Telma Ribeiro dos Santos and the Secretary General is Lucas Albano Ribeiro dos Santos (n.d.). Further information about the PMN's leaders could not be found among the sources consulted by the Research Directorate within the time constraints of this Response. In correspondence with the Research Directorate, a professor of political science at the University of Minnesota who specializes in politics in Brazil stated that the "PMN has no clear ideology" and it has "allied with the left and the right" (Professor 17 Oct. 2016). Mainwaring et al. describe the PMN as a "Center-Right" party (Mar. 1999, [18]). A doctoral dissertation on partisan politics in Brazil, http://www.irb-cisr.gc.ca/Eng/ResRec/RirRdi/Pages/index.aspx?doc=456755&pls=1[2/13/2017 11:50:38 AM] Responses to Information Requests - Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada submitted in 2009 to the School of Law & Government at Dublin City University, describes the PMN as a "centrist party" (Doyle Jan. 2009, 90). In contrast, a 2015 doctoral dissertation submitted by Cássio de Silva Muniz to the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, titled Ideology Versus Clientelism: Modernization and Electoral Competition in Brazil, describes the PMN as "small, programmatic[1] [vs. clientelistic], and left" (Muniz Aug. 2015, 101). According to Muniz, the PMN has participated in the following coalitions: In 2006, it was a member of a coalition of "parties on the right, center, and left of the political spectrum" alongside the Brazilian Socialist Party (Partido Socialista Brasileiro, PSB), the Labour Party of Brazil (Partido Trabalhista do Brasil, PT do B), the Communist Party of Brazil (Partido Comunista do Brasil, PC do B), the Humanist Party of Solidarity (Partido Humanista da Solidariedade, PHS), the Socialist People's Party (Partido Popular Socialista, PPS), the Liberal Party (Partido Liberal, PL), the Brazilian Labour Party (Partido Trabalhista Brasileiro, PTB), and the Workers' Party (Partido dos Trabalhadores, PT) (ibid., 119) In 2010, it was part of a coalition of parties "from the center and [the] right," formed by Rosalba Ciarlini Rosado, from the Democrats (Democratas, DEM), which included, in addition to the PMN, the National Labour Party (Partido Trabalhista Nacional, PTN), the Social Liberal Party (Partido Social Liberal, PSL), the Brazilian Social Democracy Party (Partido da Social Democracia Brasileira, PSDB), and the Christian Social Party (Partido Social Cristão, PSC) (ibid. 120) In 2010, Geddel Vieira Lima, from the Brazilian Democratic Party (Partido do Movimento Democrático Brasileiro, PMDB), "ran for governor on an extensive coalition formed mostly by small rightist parties," including: the PMN, the PMDB, the PTN, the Christian Labour Party (Partido Trabalhista Cristão, PTC), PTB, the PT do B, the Christian Social Democratic Party (Partido Social Democrata Cristão, PSDC), the PSC, the Brazilian Labour Renewal Party (Partido Renovador Trabalhista Brasileiro, PRTB), the Progressive Republican Party (Partido Republicano Progressista, PRP), the Party of the Republic (Partido Da República, PR), and the PPS (ibid., 124). Further information on the ideology of the PMN, including political platform(s), could not be found among the sources consulted by the Research Directorate within the time constraints of this Response. 2. Membership Procedures According to a translation of the membership section of the PMN website, the applicant must complete the online form and include their name, voter's card, email, telephone number, and the state and municipality of residence (PMN n.d.). After submitting the online application, a municipal representative of the PMN will contact the applicant to have them sign the membership card (ibid.). In a case where there is no PMN representation in the applicant's city, someone from the PMN state office will contact the applicant to sign the card (ibid.). According to the site, the applicant will not be considered "affiliated" until they sign the membership card (ibid.). The Professor stated that citizens who are registering to become a member of any political party in Brazil must "fill out a form," after which the membership is "officially registered [with] both the national party office and with the [N]ational [E]lectoral [C]ourt, the Tribunal Superior Eleitoral [TSE]" (Professor 17 Oct. 2016). The same source further stated that, "in theory," party memberships can be checked on the website of the TSE, however, "the record-keeping is often spotty" and as such, "not having a record there is probably not evidence of not being a http://www.irb-cisr.gc.ca/Eng/ResRec/RirRdi/Pages/index.aspx?doc=456755&pls=1[2/13/2017 11:50:38 AM] Responses to Information Requests - Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada member, of any party" (ibid.). Corroborating information could not be found among the sources consulted by the Research Directorate within the time constraints of this Response. According to a 2015 report produced by the National Democratic Institute (NDI), a non-profit and nonpartisan NGO that supports democracies and democratic institutions around the world, including work to "establish and strengthen political and civic organisations" (NDI n.d.), the TSE has party member data, including date of registration, voter ID number and geographic location by state, city, electoral zone and electoral section. For former party members, it includes date of and reason for cancellation, as well as the date of renewal/reinstatement for those who have rejoined parties. (ibid. 2015, 89) Further information on the availability or appearance of membership documents or cards could not be found among the sources consulted by the Research Directorate within the time constraints of this Response. 3. Treatment by Authorities Information on the treatment of PMN members by authorities, including incidents of arrest or violence, could not be found among the sources consulted by the Research Directorate within the time constraints of this Response. 4. Involvement in Elections and Federal Government 2014-2016 Media sources report that Aécio Neves and Dilma Rousseff were the presidential candidates in the October 2014 runoff vote (Vice News 6 Oct. 2014; BBC 26 Oct. 2014; The Guardian 21 Oct. 2014). According to Trade Bridge Consultants, which provides advisory services to "politicians and the business community at [the] local, national and international level" (Trade Bridge Consultants n.d.a), during the 2014 presidential elections, the PMN was part of the coalition "Change, Brazil" that supported presidential candidate Aécio Neves of the Brazilian Social Democracy Party (PSDB) (ibid. n.d.). The Professor similarly stated that during the "last election [2014], the PMN allied with the losing candidate's party, but that party is now part of the government (in principle) after the impeachment of Dilma [Rousseff]" (Professor 17 Oct. 2016). Reuters reported in April 2016 that the PSDB, Brazil's "largest opposition party," would "support an [interim] government led by Vice-president Michel Temer from the aisles of Congress…but the party is split over whether to join his cabinet" (25 Apr. 2016). On 31 August 2016, Al Jazeera reported that Temer was sworn in as Brazil's new president after Rousseff was removed from office. According to the Professor, the PMN "elected no deputies to the National Chamber" (Professor 17 Oct. 2016). Further and corroborating information could not be found among the sources consulted by the Research Directorate within the time constraints of this Response. This Response was prepared after