Patriota (, ), abbreviated PATRI and formerly known as the National Ecological Party ( pt, Partido Ecológico Nacional, abbreviated PEN), is a

right-wing Right-wing politics describes the range of political ideologies that view certain social orders and hierarchies as inevitable, natural, normal, or desirable, typically supporting this position on the basis of natural law, economics, authorit ...

far-right Far-right politics, also referred to as the extreme right or right-wing extremism, are political beliefs and actions further to the right of the left–right political spectrum than the standard political right, particularly in terms of being ...

political party in Brazil 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 registered in the

Superior Electoral Court The Superior Electoral Court ( pt-BR, Tribunal Superior Eleitoral, TSE) is the highest body of the Brazilian Electoral Justice, which also comprises one Regional Electoral Court ( pt-BR, Tribunal Regional Eleitoral, TRE) in each of the 26 states ...

in the summer of 2012. The President of the party is the former State Deputy of

São Paulo São Paulo (, ; Portuguese for 'Saint Paul') is the most populous city in Brazil, and is the capital of the state of São Paulo, the most populous and wealthiest Brazilian state, located in the country's Southeast Region. Listed by the GaWC a ...

Adilson Barroso, who before creating PEN was a member of the Social Christian Party. The party's

identification number is 51. Its platform involves support for

conservative Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy that seeks to promote and to preserve traditional institutions, practices, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civilization i ...

policies, a strong national

military policy Military policy (also called defence policy or defense policy) is public policy dealing with multinational security and the military. It comprises the measures and initiatives that governments do or do not take in relation to decision-making and ...

zero tolerance A zero tolerance policy is one which imposes a punishment for every infraction of a stated rule.zero tolerance, n.' (under ''zero, n.''). The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd Ed. 1989. Retrieved 10 November 2009. Italy, Japan, Singapore China, Indi ...

politics regarding violence and crime, support for the Brazilian agrarian sector, and rejection of social and indigenous movements like the

Landless Workers' Movement Landless Workers' Movement ( pt, Movimento dos Trabalhadores Rurais Sem Terra, MST) is a social movement in Brazil, inspired by Marxism, generally regarded as one of the largest in Latin America with an estimated informal membership of 1.5 millio ...

as well as an

anti-communist Anti-communism is Political movement, political and Ideology, ideological opposition to communism. Organized anti-communism developed after the 1917 October Revolution in the Russian Empire, and it reached global dimensions during the Cold War, w ...

stance. It is against

corruption in Brazil Corruption in Brazil exists on all levels of society from the top echelons of political power to the smallest municipalities. Operation Car Wash showed central government members using the prerogatives of their public office for rent-seeking act ...

, and seeks to uphold

traditional values Traditionalist conservatism, often known as classical conservatism, is a political and social philosophy that emphasizes the importance of transcendent moral principles, manifested through certain natural laws to which society should adhere ...

based on

Christian ethics Christian ethics, also known as moral theology, is a multi-faceted ethical system: it is a virtue ethic which focuses on building moral character, and a deontological ethic which emphasizes duty. It also incorporates natural law ethics, whic ...

. The party has links with the

Assemblies of God The Assemblies of God (AG), officially the World Assemblies of God Fellowship, is a group of over 144 autonomous self-governing national groupings of churches that together form the world's largest Pentecostal denomination."Assemblies of God". ...

, the largest Christian

evangelical Evangelicalism (), also called evangelical Christianity or evangelical Protestantism, is a worldwide Interdenominationalism, interdenominational movement within Protestantism, Protestant Christianity that affirms the centrality of being "bor ...

denomination in Brazil.

History

The party was founded as the National Ecological Party (PEN) in 2011. The party was a

centre-right Centre-right politics lean to the Right-wing politics, right of the Left–right politics, political spectrum, but are closer to the Centrism, centre. From the 1780s to the 1880s, there was a shift in the Western world of social class structure a ...

green conservative party, originally meant to attract environmentalist politician

Marina Silva Maria Osmarina da Silva Vaz de Lima (born 8 February 1958) is a Brazilian politician and environmentalist. She is the founder and former spokeswoman for the Sustainability Network Party (REDE). During her political career, Silva served as a sen ...

in case her party did not get the authorization to take part in the

2014 Brazilian general election General elections were held in Brazil on 5 October 2014 to elect the president, the National Congress, and state governorships.

. This proposal failed and the party obtained a small quantity of votes in the 2014 elections, while endorsing then presidential candidate

Aécio Neves Aécio Neves da Cunha (; born 10 March 1960) is a Brazilian economist, politician and former president of the Brazilian Social Democracy Party (PSDB). He was the 17th Governor of Minas Gerais from 1 January 2003 to 31 March 2010, and is current ...

2017–present

In 2017, the PEN changed when

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 ...

announced he would enter the party, in a bid to run for President of Brazil in the

2018 Brazilian general election General elections were held in Brazil on 7 October 2018 to elect the president, National Congress and state governors. As no candidate in the presidential election received more than 50% of the vote in the first round, a runoff round was held ...

. PEN changed its name to Patriota (PATRI) and abandoned its former environmentalist ideals to become a right-wing

party pursuing a

right-wing populist Right-wing populism, also called national populism and right-wing nationalism, is a political ideology that combines right-wing politics and populist rhetoric and themes. Its rhetoric employs anti-elitist sentiments, opposition to the Establi ...

agenda, influenced by

Donald Trump Donald John Trump (born June 14, 1946) is an American politician, media personality, and businessman who served as the 45th president of the United States from 2017 to 2021. Trump graduated from the Wharton School of the University of Pe ...

's victory in the

2016 United States presidential election The 2016 United States presidential election was the 58th quadrennial presidential election, held on Tuesday, November 8, 2016. The Republican ticket of businessman Donald Trump and Indiana governor Mike Pence defeated the Democratic ticket ...

and

Brexit Brexit (; a portmanteau of "British exit") was the withdrawal of the United Kingdom (UK) from the European Union (EU) at 23:00 GMT on 31 January 2020 (00:00 1 February 2020 CET).The UK also left the European Atomic Energy Community (EAEC or ...

. Patriota has renounced its green and pro-ecologist policies in favor of its conservative and nationalist policies; it has maintained and strengthened its religious opposition to

abortion Abortion is the termination of a pregnancy by removal or expulsion of an embryo or fetus. An abortion that occurs without intervention is known as a miscarriage or "spontaneous abortion"; these occur in approximately 30% to 40% of pregn ...

same-sex marriage Same-sex marriage, also known as gay marriage, is the marriage of two people of the same Legal sex and gender, sex or gender. marriage between same-sex couples is legally performed and recognized in 33 countries, with the most recent being ...

, and other socially progressive policies. The acronym PEN was also seen as an abbreviation of

Pentecostalism Pentecostalism or classical Pentecostalism is a Protestant Charismatic Christian movement

, the evangelical current of PEN founders, than a coherent ideological current. Since the refoundation as Patriota, the party are making more efforts to appeal for a broader Christian electorate, like socially conservative

Catholics The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

and traditional Protestants like

Baptists Baptists form a major branch of Protestantism distinguished by baptizing professing Christian believers only ( believer's baptism), and doing so by complete immersion. Baptist churches also generally subscribe to the doctrines of soul compe ...

and

Presbyterians Presbyterianism is a part of the Reformed tradition within Protestantism that broke from the Roman Catholic Church in Scotland by John Knox, who was a priest at St. Giles Cathedral (Church of Scotland). Presbyterian churches derive their nam ...

, instead to be a mere political arm of a single church. Not only the acronym was changed, but the ideology was changed too, due to the fact that Bolsonaro sees environmentalists as part of a "conspiracy against Brazil" while his sons Eduardo Bolsonaro and

Flávio Bolsonaro Flávio Nantes Bolsonaro (born 30 April 1981) is a Brazilian politician, lawyer and entrepreneur who is the eldest child of Brazilian President, Jair Bolsonaro. He was a Member of the Legislative Assembly of the State of Rio de Janeiro from ...

are global warming deniers. These two reasons forced the party to change its name and ideology. After an internal conflict, Bolsonaro gave up on joining Patriota in January 2018 and chose to join the Social Liberal Party in January 2018. Nevertheless, the party maintained the proposal of change of name and statute and the party have spoken in the possibility of two other members of the party applying for the candidacy to the presidency of the republic, these include Adilson Barroso himself and the plastic surgeon Dr. Roberto M. Rey Jr., affiliated to the party since 2014. In 2018, Patriota launched former firefighter and evangelical pastor

Cabo Daciolo Benevenuto Daciolo Fonseca dos Santos (born 30 March 1976), known as Cabo Daciolo (''Corporal Daciolo'' in English), is a Brazilian military firefighter and politician affiliated to the Democratic Labour Party (PDT). In 2014, he was elected fed ...

as their presidential nominee, without partnering any political party. Daciolo is known for his controversial political views, which include turning Brazil into a Christian theocracy. Daciolo got 1,3% of votes and did not endorse Bolsonaro nor Haddad in the second round. On 17 December 2018, the Progressive Republican Party merged with Patriota, increasing its representation to nine deputies and one senator. Patriota later joined Bolsonaro's coalition in the Congress. With 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 ...

s, Patriota failed to break through the

electoral threshold The electoral threshold, or election threshold, is the minimum share of the primary vote that a candidate or political party requires to achieve before they become entitled to representation or additional seats in a legislature. This limit can ...

, thus cutting access to

party subsidies Party subsidies or public funding of political parties are subsidies paid by the government directly to a political party to fund some or all of its political activities. Most democracies (in one way or the other) provide cash grants (state aid) fro ...

and free political advertisement. On October, the party voted in an assembly to merge with the Brazilian Labour Party to form the "Mais Brasil" party.

Ideology and policies

Religious policies

Due to most members and militants of Patriota being from different Christian branches and racial backgrounds, the party condemns racism and promotes Christian

ecumenism Ecumenism (), also spelled oecumenism, is the concept and principle that Christians who belong to different Christian denominations should work together to develop closer relationships among their churches and promote Christian unity. The adjec ...

, despite this, the party opposes integration with non-Christians, mainly

Atheists Atheism, in the broadest sense, is an absence of belief in the existence of deities. Less broadly, atheism is a rejection of the belief that any deities exist. In an even narrower sense, atheism is specifically the position that there no d ...

and

Muslim Muslims ( ar, المسلمون, , ) are people who adhere to Islam, a monotheistic religion belonging to the Abrahamic tradition. They consider the Quran, the foundational religious text of Islam, to be the verbatim word of the God of Abrah ...

s. The party follows a deep conservative and fundamentalist orientation, being against

secularism Secularism is the principle of seeking to conduct human affairs based on Secularity, secular, Naturalism (philosophy), naturalistic considerations. Secularism is most commonly defined as the Separation of church and state, separation of relig ...

LGBT adoption Same-sex adoption is the adoption of children by Same-sex relationship, same-sex couples. It may take the form of a joint adoption by the couple, or of the adoption by one partner of the other's biological child (stepchild adoption). Joint ad ...

and pro-

gender identity Gender identity is the personal sense of one's own gender. Gender identity can correlate with a person's assigned sex or can differ from it. In most individuals, the various biological determinants of sex are congruent, and consistent with the i ...

policies while referring to it as "

gender ideology The anti-gender movement is an international movement which opposes what it refers to as "gender ideology", " gender theory" or "genderism". The concepts cover a variety of issues and have no coherent definition. Members of the anti-gender mov ...

". But ever since, the party has adopted more controversial stances, including turning Brazil into a theocratic state and replacing the secular 1988 constitution for a religious-oriented one.

Economic policies

The party has ambiguous economic policies. While embracing

economic liberalism Economic liberalism is a political and economic ideology that supports a market economy based on individualism and private property in the means of production. Adam Smith is considered one of the primary initial writers on economic liberalism ...

, the party opposes foreign interference, mainly by Chinese companies, in the Brazilian economy. The party supports the privatization of most Brazilian state-owned companies, but also promotes more Brazilian government interference in some sectors, like the mining sector, and opposes the privatization of

Petrobras Petróleo Brasileiro S.A., better known by the portmanteau Petrobras (), is a state owned enterprise, state-owned Brazilian multinational corporation in the petroleum industry headquartered in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. The company's name transla ...

. The party's economic policy can be seen as supporting a

mixed economy A mixed economy is variously defined as an economic system blending elements of a market economy with elements of a planned economy, markets with state interventionism, or private enterprise with public enterprise. Common to all mixed economi ...

National security policies

Patriota supports a hard approach against crime and drug trafficking, supporting the lowering of the minimum penal age and favoring

life imprisonment Life imprisonment is any sentence of imprisonment for a crime under which convicted people are to remain in prison for the rest of their natural lives or indefinitely until pardoned, paroled, or otherwise commuted to a fixed term. Crimes for ...

and

capital punishment Capital punishment, also known as the death penalty, is the state-sanctioned practice of deliberately killing a person as a punishment for an actual or supposed crime, usually following an authorized, rule-governed process to conclude that t ...

. The party also supports liberal gun policies, favoring the open carry of weapons and favors large investments on the

Brazilian Armed Forces The Brazilian Armed Forces ( pt, Forças Armadas Brasileiras, ) are the unified military forces of the Federative Republic of Brazil. Consisting of three service branches, it comprises the Brazilian Army (including the Brazilian Army Aviatio ...

Electoral results

Presidential elections

Legislative elections

References

{{Brazil political parties 2012 establishments in Brazil Anti-communist parties Christian nationalism Christian political parties Conservative parties in Brazil Far-right political parties in Brazil Nationalist parties in Brazil Political parties established in 2012 Protestantism in Brazil Protestant political parties Right-wing parties in South America Right-wing politics in Brazil