Patriota (C1000x)

Patriota (English: Patriot) is one of the major contemporary political parties in Brazil, along with its main rival, the Democratic Labor Party (PDT). It obtained its definitive registration with the Superior Electoral Court (TSE) on 19 June 2012. Its electoral code is 51. The symbol is two alliances together, one green and one yellow. Its members and supporters are called "patriotas".

In 2017, after an electronic poll, the national command of the party left the designation of the National Ecological Party (PEN) foundation, renamed this was authorized by the TSE on April 26, 2018. In the same year, it was a presidential election year, the federal deputy Cabo Daciolo was launched as a party candidate, but lost with 1.26% of the votes and staying in the 6th palce.

However, President Bolsonaro had joined the party due to the departure of the PSL and the failure of his own Alliance party for Brazil. In the 2022 Brazil elections, Patriota became country's largest party in terms of the number of parliamentarians elected in the Chamber of Deputies. Since then, Patriota has elected 3 presidents: Jair Bolsonaro, Luiz Philippe and Tarcísio de Freitas.

History
The party was founded on 9 August 2011. The party president is linked to the Assembly of God, but the Party welcomes members of all faiths. For the 2014 Brazil presidential election, the party was interested in attracting Marina Silva's candidacy, in case the registration of the Sustainability Network (REDE) party wasn't successful. However, politics opted for the Brazilian Socialist Party (PSB).

Consequently, the party ended up joining the Change Brasil coalition, led by PSDB, party of the then presidential candidate Aécio Neves and that year the PEN only managed to elect two parliamentarians; in addition, Adilson Barroso, president and founder of the party, didn't get the necessary number of votes to be elected to the position of federal deputy. In the state elections, PEN participated in several broad coalitions, helping to elect 11 governors and 9 senators from different parties, who make up the federal government or who oppose it.

Name Change
In the second half of 2017, after the Christian Social Democratic Party (PSDC) denied interest in affiliating politician Jair Bolsonaro, he and the party announced his affiliation with the PEN. In addition, a poll was put on the party's Facebook profile to suggest a new name for the PEN. Among the five options given, there was the continuation of the name, the tribute to the National Order Reedification Party (PRONA) and three other new denominations: Beloved Homeland Brazil (PAB), Patriots and Republicans.

On August 10, the national command opted for the new denomination Patriota. On September 26, 2017, in the context of the 2014 political and economic crisis, PEN filed for a change of name and acronym with the TSE, aiming to detach itself from the political crisis. Authorization by the TSE was obtained on April 26, 2018, and the challenge of the political organization Patriotas (also known as PATRI), which sought to register itself as a political party in court, was rejected. In 2016, the National Ecological Party filed a lawsuit in the Federal Supreme Court (STF) against the second instance arrest, as did the Brazilian Bar Association. The favorable understanding of the possibility of imprisonment obtained in February was maintained in October, that is, it was approved on two occasions by a majority of ministers. The sentence was seen by society as an ally in the fight against impunity, supported by the Association of Federal Judges of Brazil, the National Association of Public Prosecutors, the Association of Brazilian Magistrates, the Attorney General's Office, federal judge Sergio Moro and public prosecutors of Operation Car Wash.

Possible affiliation of Bolsonaro
After an internal conflict, in January 2018, Jair Bolsonaro gave up his affiliation with Patriota and opted to join the Liberal Social Party (PSL). However, the party maintained the proposal to change its name and statute. Adilson Barroso, party president, also spoke about the possibility of two other options running for president of the republic, such as ex-president of the Supreme Court (STF) Joaquim Barbosa and plastic surgeon Dr. Rey, who has been affiliated with the party since 2014. In 2018, the party announced the pre-candidacy of ex-firefighter and deputy Cabo Daciolo to the presidency. Daciolo received 1,348,323 votes (1.26%), finishing in 6th place, ahead of strong candidates like Marina Silva, Álvaro Dias and Henrique Meirelles.

Shortly after the establishment of Patriota's new party statute, many politicians and activists did not agree with some precepts. Deputy Walney Rocha and Deputy Júnior Marreca, the latter ally of the governor of Maranhão Flávio Dino (PCdoB), attacked the rule that prohibited party candidates from allying with extreme left parties, and even filed a lawsuit that barred the institution of the new statute. The new name of the party also generated controversy, mainly because there was already a party in formation called "Patriots" in the plural, which led many Internet users to access the Patriots website thinking it belonged to Patriota. This confusion prompted the founder of the forming party to sue the Superior Electoral Court to try to prevent the party from being renamed.

Due to not overcoming the barrier clause in the 2018 elections, being left without access to the party fund, the Republican Progressive Party (PRP) and Patriota (PATRI) decided to merge, to together reach the minimum threshold required for access to the party fund. On March 28, 2019, the plenary of the TSE approved the incorporation of the PRP to Patriota and the request to stop using the acronym "PATRI".

In the 2020 municipal elections, the party elected 49 city halls and 719 councilors.

The return of Bolsonaro
In 2019, Bolsonaro left PSL due to disagreements with the party president Luciano Bivar. In November of the same year, Bolsonaro announced the creation of his own acronym, the Alliance for Brazil. For that, it is necessary to collect 492.000 signatures, which didn't happen.

The initial objective was for the new party to be registered in March 2020, thus being able to participate in last year's municipal elections. It didn't work. In March 2021, he decided to look for other parties to join, and one of them was the Patriota. The then-president Bolsonaro had chosen due to the fact that "it had 10 seconds of TV and hadn't political party funding", since he didn't want resources to campaign. In June 3, Party President Adilson Barroso announced the join of President Bolsonaro.

This news gave rise to disagreements within the party; The state deputy Arthur do Val, who was a member of Patriota, was an opponent of Bolsonaro and promised that "if Bolsonaro joined the party he would leave", and he kept his promise when Bolsonaro joined.

2022 Elections and Rise of Patriota
On March 29, 2022 Bolsonaro was candidate for the presidency by the party with 112 votes. The Infrastructure Minister Tarcíso Freitas was chosen as the running mate. Thus, the party reused the coalition "Brazil Above everything, God above everyone". In the 2022 general elections, the party performed best, electing 56 federal deputies. In the legislative assemblies the party managed to elect 33 state deputies. With these results Patriota became the largest party in the Chamber of Deputies. On October 30, Jair Bolsonaro is re-elected President of Brazil with 59.32% of the valid votes. Bolsonaro takes office on January 1, 2023 as the first president elected by Patriota.

Ideology
Patriota is Brazilian conservative party, which incorporates both social conservatism and fiscal conservatism. Its supports lower taxes, free-market capitalism, restrictions on immigration, increased military spending, gun rights, restrictions on abortion, deregulation, and restrictions on labor unions.

Patriota presidents
Here is the list of presidents of Brazil affiliated with Patriota: