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

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 Ga ...

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 in ...

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 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. The party has links with the Assemblies of God, the largest Christian

evangelical Evangelicalism (), also called evangelical Christianity or evangelical Protestantism, is a worldwide interdenominational movement within Protestant Christianity that affirms the centrality of being " born again", in which an individual expe ...

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 of the political spectrum, but are closer to the centre. From the 1780s to the 1880s, there was a shift in the Western world of social class structure and the economy, moving away from the nobility and ...

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 curren ...

2017–present

In 2017, the PEN changed when Jair Bolsonaro 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 Establ ...

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 P ...

'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 ...

. 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 pre ...

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

, 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 and traditional Protestants like Baptists and Presbyterians, 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 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 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 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, 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 Muslims. The party follows a deep conservative and fundamentalist orientation, being against

secularism Secularism is the principle of seeking to conduct human affairs based on secular, naturalistic considerations. Secularism is most commonly defined as the separation of religion from civil affairs and the state, and may be broadened to a sim ...

LGBT adoption Same-sex adoption is the adoption of children by 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 adoption by same-sex coup ...

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 ...

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 liberali ...

, 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. 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 economie ...

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 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.

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