The 2010 Acre referendum consisted of a decision regarding maintaining the

time zone A time zone is an area which observes a uniform standard time for legal, Commerce, commercial and social purposes. Time zones tend to follow the boundaries between Country, countries and their Administrative division, subdivisions instead of ...

change for the Brazilian state of

Acre The acre is a unit of land area used in the imperial Imperial is that which relates to an empire, emperor, or imperialism. Imperial or The Imperial may also refer to: Places United States * Imperial, California * Imperial, Missouri * Imp ...

, as the state had an 1-hour difference from

Brasília Time Time in Brazil is calculated using standard time, and the country (including its offshore islands) is divided into four standard time zones: UTC−02:00, UTC−03:00, UTC−04:00 and UTC−05:00. Time zones Fernando de Noronha time (UTC−02 ...

( UTC-03:00) in 2008, when the original time zone had minus 2 hours from Brasília.

History

In 1913, Executive Order 2,784 was signed, which instituted the first time zones in Brazil. According to paragraph ''d'', in joint interpretation with paragraph ''c'', Acre and the area west of the line which connects the municipalities of

Tabatinga Tabatinga, originally Forte de São Francisco Xavier de Tabatinga, is a municipality in the Três Fronteiras area of Western Amazonas. It is in the Brazilian state of Amazonas. Its population was 67,182 (2020) and its area is 3,225 km2. To ...

and Porto Acre, was incorporated as part of the "fourth zone", characterized by GMT-5 (current UTC-05:00). Almost a century after the change, Federal Law no. 11,662 of 2008 was signed, which, along with another change in the state of Pará (inserting it totally in the Brasília Regional Time), made the state of Acre and southwest Amazonas advance the time by one hour, to the UTC-04:00 time zone, on 23 June 2008.

Reasons for change

The time zone change was proposed by then Senator

Tião Viana Sebastião Afonso Viana Macedo Neves, better known as Tião Viana ( Rio Branco, February 9, 1961), is a doctor and Brazilian politician A politician is a person active in party politics, or a person holding or seeking an elected office in ...

( PT- AC), who defended the change by stating that the time difference between Acre and nearby states jeopardized the state economically and culturally. After the referendum, the Abert ( Brazilian Association of Radio and Television Broadcasters) opposed the return to the previous time, owing to scheduling adjustments that would be required after the institution of the

Brazilian advisory rating system The Brazilian Advisory Rating ( pt, Classificação Indicativa, abbreviated ClassInd) is a content rating system for the classification of movies, games and television programs. The ClassInd rating system is controlled by the Advisory Rating Coor ...

by the

Ministry of Justice A Ministry of Justice is a common type of government department that serves as a justice ministry. Lists of current ministries of justice Named "Ministry" * Ministry of Justice (Abkhazia) * Ministry of Justice (Afghanistan) * Ministry of Just ...

in 2007.

The referendum and its effects

The referendum was held on 31 October 2010, on the same day of the second round of the 2010 presidential election. The majority of the population decided to choose to return to the previous time zone, which had a 2-hour difference from Brasília Regional Time. The provisions of the referendum did not immediately commence due to doubts of the validity of the referendum by certain political elements and pressure from TV broadcasters that stalled its implementation for almost three years after the referendum had taken place. The change was finally approved by the

Federal Senate A senate is a deliberative assembly, often the upper house or chamber of a bicameral legislature. Senate or the Senate may also refer to: * Any one of the national senates in the world, including ** The Brazilian Senate ** The United States Sen ...

committees in September 2013. As consequence, the Federal Law no. 12,876/2013 reestablished the previous time in Acre and southwest Amazonas, repealing the Federal Law no. 11,662/2008. The regions covered by the change returned to the old time zone at midnight on Sunday, 10 November 2013.

Result

As officially published by Electoral Justice, the result of Acre referendum was the following:

References

{{Brazilian elections Referendums in Brazil 2010 referendums 2010 in Brazil 2010 elections in Brazil October 2010 events in South America