Brazilian firearms and ammunition referendum, 2005
The referendum and its date had been provided for by the Disarmament Statute itself. During the drafting and development of the law, it had been decided that article 35 should be submitted to a referendum because of the importance of its subject. On July 7, 2005, the Federal Senate of Brazil promulgated legislative decree 780, which authorized the referendum. Article 2 of its decree stipulated that the public consultation should employ the following question: "Should commerce in firearms and ammunition be prohibited in Brazil?" ("O comércio de armas de fogo e munição deve ser proibido no Brasil?"). Voters could choose to answer this question "yes" or "no", could leave the ballot blank, or could invalidate their votes.
Among the world's countries, Brazil has the second largest number of people murdered annually by firearms, second to Venezuela. Each year about 39,000 people in Brazil are shot to death. However, worldwide statistics do not show unambiguously whether this number would be reduced by the prohibition of the sale of firearms and ammunition.
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[edit] Procedure
The referendum took place much as a normal Brazilian legislative or executive election would. Citizens voted in their respective electoral districts by electronic ballot.
Voting was obligatory for those over 18 and optional for those voters between 16 and 18 or over 70. Voters had to vote within their districts, unlike the 1993 referendum. Anyone who was outside their district on the day of the referendum had to justify themselves with a Petition for Electoral Justification and submit it at their nearest polling station. Citizens abroad were not allowed to vote. Violators would be assessed a fine of about R$4.00).
The usual prohibition of campaigning on the day of the election was in effect. In addition, some states of Brazil ban the sale and consumption of alcoholic beverages during the day.
[edit] Results
The final electoral results were roughly as projected by surveys conducted by the principal Brazilian research institutions in the week before the referendum. While IBOPE predicted a victory for "No" with 55% of the vote, Datafolha projected that the result would be 57% to "No". Both surveys had a margin of error of 2%.
| No: 59,109,265 (63.94%) | Yes: 33,333,045 (36.06%) | ||
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Alberto Dines, of the Press Observer, criticized the reporting of Veja, but supported Beraba's criticism, concluding that "our press is not reliable" ("a nossa imprensa não é confiável"). [1]
[edit] Finances of the campaigns
After the referendum, the blog of a journalist at the Folha de S. Paulo revealed the main donators to the two sides:
- "No" received practically all its donations from Taurus (R$2.4 million) and the Companhia Brasileira de Cartuchos (Brazilian Cartridge Company) (R$2.6 million), Brazilian manufacturers of guns and ammunition, respectively.
- The "no" campaign stayed on top financially, spending only what it received in donations.
- "Yes" had as its main contributors the beverage company Ambev (around R$400,000), the Confederação Brasileira de Futebol (R$100,000) and the Prestadora de Serviços Estruturar (R$400,000), with a total of R$2.4 million in donations.
- The "yes" campaign had a deficit of R$320,000.
[edit] See also
[edit] External links
- Information (in Portuguese)
- Resultado Oficial
- Instruções e Resoluções do TSE
- Tire suas dúvidas sobre o Estatuto do Desarmamento
- Referendo Sobre o Desarmamento
- Comunicação do Senado
- Pesquisa do Datafolha
- Lei que regulamenta a execução dos meios de soberania popular previstos no artigo 14 da Constituição Federal
- Opinions against the referendum (in Portuguese)
- PSTU - Vote Não! Pelo direito à autodefesa dos trabalhadores!
- Referendo da Fumaça, Revista Veja, 05/10/05
- Portal Nosso São Paulo - Diga "não" à Mentira e à Hipocrisia
- A Farsa do Desarmamento
- Charges
- Mídia sem Máscara
- Opinions in support of the referendum (in Portuguese)
