Progressistas


Progressistas is a right-wing conservative-liberal political party in Brazil.

History

Founded in 1995, as Brazilian Progressive Party, by the union of:
The party entered in coalition with the Brazilian Social Democracy Party and the Liberal Front Party, supporting President Fernando Henrique Cardoso.
In 2003 the party re-changed its name to the Progressive Party. PP has also supported the Workers' Party-led government since 2003.
At the parliamentary elections, held in October 2006, the party won 42 of the 513 seats in the chamber of deputies, and it has 1 of the 81 seats in the Senate. At the 2010 elections, PP won 41 seats in the Chamber of Deputies, and made gains in the Senate for a total of 5 seats. It lost an extremely close gubernatorial runoff in Roraima to the PSDB, and won no state governorships.
Its most well-known politicians are Jair Bolsonaro, current president of Brazil; Paulo Maluf, mayor and governor of São Paulo for several terms; Esperidião Amin, former governor of Santa Catarina and senator; and Francisco Dornelles, former minister of Labour and senator for the state of Rio de Janeiro.
The party has from its very beginning shown a tendency for regional division, with the section from Rio Grande do Sul state often threatening with secession, in part due to what is viewed by them as condescendence of the party's national direction towards members involved in corruption scandals, including Paulo Maluf. The national orientation of the party has been one of close alliance with Lula's Workers' Party government, while the section of Rio Grande do Sul once more show a defiant stance in aligning itself more often with the opposition.
The Progressive Party supported the impeachment of Dilma Rousseff.
This party was most affected by the Petrobras corruption scandal.