Cidadania () is a

Brazilian political party Brazil has a multi-party system since 1979, when the country's military dictatorship disbanded an enforced two-party system and allowed the creation of multiple parties. Above the broad range of political parties in Brazilian Congress, the Wo ...

. It was originally founded as the Popular Socialist Party ( pt, Partido Popular Socialista, PPS) by members of the former

Brazilian Communist Party The Brazilian Communist Party ( pt-BR, Partido Comunista Brasileiro), originally the Communist Party of Brazil (), is a communist party in Brazil founded on 25 March 1922 which makes the disputed claim of being the oldest political party stil ...

(PCB), as a centre-left

social democratic Social democracy is a political, social, and economic philosophy within socialism that supports political and economic democracy. As a policy regime, it is described by academics as advocating economic and social interventions to promote soci ...

and

democratic socialist Democratic socialism is a left-wing political philosophy that supports political democracy and some form of a socially owned economy, with a particular emphasis on economic democracy, workplace democracy, and workers' self-management within a ...

party. Despite its left-wing aligment, PPS moved to be opposition against the Workers' Party since 2004, forming alliances with center-right parties, in particular the

Brazilian Social Democracy Party The Brazilian Social Democracy Party ( pt, Partido da Social Democracia Brasileira, PSDB), also known as the Brazilian Social Democratic Party or the Party of Brazilian Social Democracy,. is a political party in Brazil Brazil has a multi-pa ...

(PSDB), and supporting the

Impeachment of Dilma Rousseff The impeachment of Dilma Rousseff, the 36th president of Brazil, began on 2 December 2015 with a petition for her impeachment being accepted by Eduardo Cunha, then president of the Chamber of Deputies, and continued into late 2016. Dilma Rousse ...

. Later the party's National Convention adopted the new naming in March 2019, and it was later approved by the Superior Electoral Court that September. The party then began moving towards a more

social liberal Social liberalism (german: Sozialliberalismus, es, socioliberalismo, nl, Sociaalliberalisme), also known as new liberalism in the United Kingdom, modern liberalism, or simply liberalism in the contemporary United States, left-liberalism ...

positions akin to the

third way The Third Way is a centrist political position that attempts to reconcile right-wing and left-wing politics by advocating a varying synthesis of centre-right economic policies with centre-left social policies. The Third Way was born from a ...

History

It was founded in 1992 after the main body of the

(PCB) decided to reinvent itself as a

party following the collapse of the

Soviet Union The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen national ...

. A minority faction of the Brazilian Communist Party retained the old name. Logomarca do Partido Popular Socialista

The PPS was a part of the coalition government of Brazilian President Luis Inácio da Silva until December 2004, when its leader withdrew its support from the coalition.

Ciro Gomes Ciro Ferreira Gomes (; born 6 November 1957), known mononymously as Ciro, is a Brazilian politician, lawyer, and academic. Ciro is currently affiliated with and vice-president of the Democratic Labour Party (PDT). Born in São Paulo but rais ...

of the PPS refused to resign from his position as Minister for National Integration, leading to his removal from the PPS's National Executive. The same year, PPS withdrew from the

Foro de São Paulo Foro ( ar, فورو, ti, ፎሮ) is a town in the Northern Red Sea region (Zoba Semienawi Keyih Bahri) of Eritrea. Overview A small city located near the coast, Foro was built at the confluence of the Haddas, Aligide and Comaile rivers. In th ...

, denouncing its support for the governments of

Hugo Chávez Hugo Rafael Chávez Frías (; 28 July 1954 – 5 March 2013) was a Venezuelan politician who was president of Venezuela from 1999 until his death in 2013, except for a brief period in 2002. Chávez was also leader of the Fifth Republ ...

in Venezuela and

Fidel Castro Fidel Alejandro Castro Ruz (; ; 13 August 1926 – 25 November 2016) was a Cuban revolutionary and politician who was the leader of Cuba from 1959 to 2008, serving as the prime minister of Cuba from 1959 to 1976 and president from 1976 to 200 ...

in Cuba. In the 2006 legislative elections, the party won 21 seats in the

chamber of deputies The chamber of deputies is the lower house in many bicameral legislatures and the sole house in some unicameral legislatures. Description Historically, French Chamber of Deputies was the lower house of the French Parliament during the Bourbon R ...

. At that time party members held the state governorships of

Mato Grosso Mato Grosso ( – lit. "Thick Bush") is one of the states of Brazil, the third largest by area, located in the Central-West region. The state has 1.66% of the Brazilian population and is responsible for 1.9% of the Brazilian GDP. Neighboring ...

and

Rondônia Rondônia () is one of the 26 states of Brazil, located in the northern subdivision of the country (central-western part). To the west is a short border with the state of Acre, to the north is the state of Amazonas, in the east is Mato Grosso, ...

. In the

presidential election A presidential election is the election of any head of state whose official title is President. Elections by country Albania The president of Albania is elected by the Assembly of Albania who are elected by the Albanian public. Chile The pre ...

, the PPS endorsed Geraldo Alckmin of the

(PSDB). The PPS suffered setbacks in the 2010 general elections when it lost 10 seats in the Chamber of Deputies leaving just 12 remaining, although the party won its first Senate seat. It won no state governorships. The party again supported the PSDB presidential candidate, this time

José Serra José Serra Chirico (; born 19 March 1942) is a Brazilian politician who has served as a Congressman, Senator, Minister of Planning, Minister of Health, Mayor of São Paulo, Governor of São Paulo state, and Minister of Foreign Affairs of Bra ...

, and was part of his Brazil can do more alliance. Later the party consolidated its position in the opposition to PT. It supported the

impeachment of Dilma Rousseff The impeachment of Dilma Rousseff, the 36th president of Brazil, began on 2 December 2015 with a petition for her impeachment being accepted by Eduardo Cunha, then president of the Chamber of Deputies, and continued into late 2016. Dilma Rousse ...

in 2016 and formed a coalition with the provisional government with the

Brazilian Democratic Movement Party The Brazilian Democratic Movement ( pt, Movimento Democrático Brasileiro, MDB) is a Brazilian political party. It is considered a " big tent party" and it is one of the parties with the greatest representation throughout the national territory, ...

(PMDB) and the PSDB, under the rule of

Michel Temer Michel Miguel Elias Temer Lulia (; born 23 September 1940) is a Brazilian politician, lawyer and writer who served as the 37th president of Brazil from 31 August 2016 to 31 December 2018. He took office after the impeachment and removal from off ...

. In 2018, the PPS leadership announced a name change. The justification, according to the leadership, was that the party needs to modernize to attract cadres from the entire political spectrum, new social movements and not be mistakenly branded as a radical party heir to the

or close to parties linked with Brazilian old socialists like PT or

PCdoB The Communist Party of Brazil ( pt-BR, Partido Comunista do Brasil, PCdoB) is a List of political parties in Brazil, political party in Brazil. The PCdoB officially adheres to Marxist–Leninist theory. It has national reach and deep penetrat ...

. The party received new members, such as former black-headed

toucans Toucans (, ) are members of the Neotropical near passerine bird family Ramphastidae. The Ramphastidae are most closely related to the American barbets. They are brightly marked and have large, often colorful bills. The family includes five gen ...

, members of the progressive liberal LIVRES (Frees) movement, who left the PSL after the party took a hard turn to the right with

Jair Bolsonaro Jair Messias Bolsonaro (; born 21 March 1955) is a Brazilian politician and retired military officer who has been the 38th president of Brazil since 1 January 2019. He was elected in 2018 as a member of the Social Liberal Party, which he turn ...

's affiliation and support for his presidential campaign, and members of new progressive social movements like the AGORA (Now) and ACREDITO! (I Believe!). The party acquired a more liberal and less left-leaning ideology, occupying a more centrist position in the Brazilian political scenario. The decision of the new party name was set to take place after the

2018 FIFA World Cup The 2018 FIFA World Cup was the 21st FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial world championship for men's national Association football, football teams organized by FIFA. It took place in Russia from 14 June to 15 July 2018, after the country was awa ...

and the party would only rebrand itself definitively after the 2018 elections. For the Brazilian general elections of 2018 PPS joined the coalition ''To unite Brazil'', in support of the candidacy of Geraldo Alckmin. The coalition also includes

, Democrats,

Progressistas Progressistas (; PP) is a centre-right to right-wing political party in Brazil. Founded in 1995 as the Brazilian Progressive Party, it emerged from parties that were successors to ARENA, the ruling party of the Brazilian military dictatorship. A ...

Party of the Republic The Liberal Party ( pt, Partido Liberal, PL) is a conservative and national liberal political party in Brazil. From its foundation in 2006 until 2019, it was called the Party of the Republic ( pt, Partido da República, PR). The party was found ...

Brazilian Republican Party Republicans (), formerly known as Brazilian Republican Party ( pt, Partido Republicano Brasileiro) and formed as Renovator Municipalist Party ( pt, Partido Municipalista Renovador) is a Brazilian political party. Its electoral number is 10 and ...

Solidariedade Solidarity (, (Brazilian Portuguese: ''Solidariedade'') is a Brazilian social-democratic political party that uses the TSE number 77. The party elected 13 deputies and one senator in the 2018 Brazilian general election. In the 2022 Brazilian ...

, Brazilian Labour Party and

Social Democratic Party The name Social Democratic Party or Social Democrats has been used by many political parties in various countries around the world. Such parties are most commonly aligned to social democracy as their political ideology. Active parties For ...

. In 23 March 2019, in an Extraordinary Congress, the party decided to officially change its name to Citizenship (''Cidadania''), officially dropping any reference to

socialism Socialism is a left-wing economic philosophy and movement encompassing a range of economic systems characterized by the dominance of social ownership of the means of production as opposed to private ownership. As a term, it describes the e ...

and

social democracy Social democracy is a Political philosophy, political, Social philosophy, social, and economic philosophy within socialism that supports Democracy, political and economic democracy. As a policy regime, it is described by academics as advocati ...

and moving toward

and centrist positions. The new name was to be judged by the TSE and was pending approval. On 19 September 2019, the new name was approved by TSE. In an interview of 17 July 2019 party leader Roberto Freire said that Citizenship is in opposition to President

, starting a process of his

impeachment Impeachment is the process by which a legislative body or other legally constituted tribunal initiates charges against a public official for misconduct. It may be understood as a unique process involving both political and legal elements. In ...

, although they had 83% aligment with the government in the congress. For the

2022 Brazilian general election General elections were held on 2 October 2022 in Brazil to elect the president, vice president, the National Congress, the governors, vice governors, and legislative assemblies of all federative units, and the district council of Fernando de ...

, Citizenship formed a federation with the

(PSDB), forming the Always Forward Federation (or simply referred as the PSDB Cidanania Federation), endorsing the campaign of

Simone Tebet Simone Nassar Tebet (; born 27 February 1970) is a Brazilian academic, lawyer, and politician. A member of the Federal Senate for Mato Grosso do Sul since 2015, she was previously mayor of Três Lagoas from 2005 to 2010. She is a member of the ...

from the

Brazilian Democratic Movement The Brazilian Democratic Movement ( pt, Movimento Democrático Brasileiro, MDB) is a Brazilian political party. It is considered a " big tent party" and it is one of the parties with the greatest representation throughout the national territory, ...

(MDB). For the second round, the party endorsed

Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (; born Luiz Inácio da Silva; 27 October 1945), known mononymously as Lula, is a Brazilian politician, trade unionist, and former metalworker who is the president-elect of Brazil. A member of the Workers' Party, ...

International relations

Soon after its foundation, the Popular Socialist Party became a member of the

, an association of South American leftist parties which also included the majority of Brazilian left-wing formations (

PCB PCB may refer to: Science and technology * Polychlorinated biphenyl, an organic chlorine compound, now recognized as an environmental toxin and classified as a persistent organic pollutant * Printed circuit board, a board used in electronics * ...

, PT, PDT, PSB). However, in 2004 PPS withdrew from the Foro, denouncing its support for authoritarian regimes in

Cuba Cuba ( , ), officially the Republic of Cuba ( es, República de Cuba, links=no ), is an island country comprising the island of Cuba, as well as Isla de la Juventud and several minor archipelagos. Cuba is located where the northern Caribbea ...

and

Venezuela Venezuela (; ), officially the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela ( es, link=no, República Bolivariana de Venezuela), is a country on the northern coast of South America, consisting of a continental landmass and many islands and islets in th ...

. Despite being in the past a social democratic party, PPS has never been a member of the

Socialist International The Socialist International (SI) is a political international or worldwide organisation of political parties which seek to establish democratic socialism. It consists mostly of socialist and labour-oriented political parties and organisations. ...

(a position held by PDT) nor the

Progressive Alliance The Progressive Alliance (PA) is a political international of social democratic and progressive political parties and organisations founded on 22 May 2013 in Leipzig, Germany. The alliance was formed as an alternative to the existing Social ...

(a position held by PSB and PT).

Electoral results

Presidential elections

Legislative elections

Main leaders

* Roberto Freire, National President of the party, former Minister of Culture, Federal Deputy and Senator * Rubens Bueno, Federal Deputy * Arnaldo Jordy, Federal Deputy *

Cristovam Buarque Cristovam Ricardo Cavalcanti Buarque (; born February 20, 1944) is a Brazilian university professor and member of Cidadania. He was a senator for the Federal District from 2003 to 2019. Biography Buarque graduated in mechanical engineering fr ...

, former Senator, Minister of Education and Governor * Raul Jungmann, former Minister of Defence, Minister of Public Security and Federal Deputy *

Itamar Franco Itamar Augusto Cautiero Franco (; 28 June 19302 July 2011) was a Brazilian politician who served as the 33rd president of Brazil from 29 December 1992 to 31 December 1994. Previously, he was the 21st vice president of Brazil from 1990 until the ...

, former Senator, Governor and President of Brazil * Soninha Francine, City Councillor * Fernando Santana, Honorary President of the party, former Constituent Deputy * Denise Frossard, former Federal Deputy, candidate for Governor of Rio de Janeiro in 2006 * Arnaldo Jardim, Federal Deputy, former State Deputy * Luciano Rezende, Mayor of Vitória * Humberto Souto, Mayor of

Montes Claros Montes Claros is a city located in northern Minas Gerais state, in Brazil. The population is 413,487 (2020 est.) in an area of . It was made a seat of a municipality in 1831 and attained city status in 1857. History The region was originally in ...

, former Federal Deputy * Davi Zaia, State Deputy * Alex Manente, Federal Deputy, former State Deputy and City Councillor * Jorge Kajuru, Senator, former City Councillor

References

External links

* {{Brazil political parties 1992 establishments in Brazil Centrist parties in Brazil Neoliberal parties Liberal parties in Brazil Political parties established in 1992 Social liberal parties