Mecanismos de democracia direta: o contraste dos modelos brasileiro e suíço de iniciativa popular

Abstract

Faced with the growing disconnection between representatives and the represented, alternatives are sought to allow the direct participation of citizens in the legislative process, such as the popular initiative. Although Brazil and Switzerland subscribe to this principle, their regulations created opposite versions of the same mechanism. The analysis of such contrasts, therefore, can provide useful observations about possible improvements in the Brazilian system. The present work critically evaluates the Brazilian and Swiss systems of popular initiative, aiming to suggest reforms to the Brazilian model in order to make the participatory democracy regime provided for in the Federal Constitution of 1988 more effective. The qualitative methodology was adopted, making use of bibliographic review, compilation of official and public data from the Brazilian and Swiss Governments, in addition to legislative and jurisprudential consultations. After exposing the rules that govern the right of initiative in both countries, the results show that, although replications of the Swiss model are difficult when considering population, political and cultural differences in the two States, certain aspects of the Swiss experience are susceptible to adaptations in Brazil, notably the combination of popular initiative with referendums, the validation of signatures by a body other than the Legislative Branch, as well as mechanisms that show how to deal with initiatives from the public, such as the legislative counterproposal and the explanatory voting brochures.