National Congress of Brazil

The National Congress ( Congresso Nacional Portuguese ) is Brazil's supreme legislative body and is composed of two chambers:

• The Federal Senate ( Senado Federal) consists of 81 seats: three for each of the 26 states of Brazil and the Federal District. The senators are elected by majority vote for eight years. The election in the States is graded, so that at any given election date only two thirds of the Senators are elected, while the remaining third will be elected four years later.

• In the Chamber of Deputies ( Câmara dos Deputados ) 513 members are elected. A term of office is four years. The elections are based on a complex system of proportional representation, are counted in the votes for a party and votes for candidates of that party. From this, the seats allocated to that party are determined and the candidates with the most individual voices come into the Chamber of Deputies. The seats are distributed in proportion to the population of the states, but each state gets at least eight seats and a maximum of 70 seats. Thus, the system is weighted in favor of the smaller States.

Both chambers are housed in the Congress building in the center of the capital. Currently, 15 different parties are represented in Congress. Since it is not uncommon among politicians in Brazil to change the party, the number of seats by party change quite frequently.

Architecture

The building in which both chambers are housed, was built in 1958-1960. It stands at the end of the central monumental axis of Brasília. Outside the building is a large grassy area, where demonstrations can take place.

Like many other public buildings in the city was also this designed by the architect Oscar Niemeyer. It consists of a flat plinth, two central disc skyscrapers are at the offices of MPs. Left and right are two cup-shaped parts of buildings in them, the two chambers are housed. The Senate left has a concave dome - shape, the House of Representatives right compensates with its convex shape of a shallow bowl. For the building complex includes additional buildings in the area, which are connected in part by underground tunnel.

Brasília and the National Congress as the central building was in 1987 declared a World Heritage Site.