EVANGELICALS, PENTECOSTALS AND POLITICAL REPRESENTATION IN BRAZILIAN LEGISLATIVE ELECTIONS (1998-2010)

• Autor(a) principal: Lacerda,Fabio
• Data de Publicação: 2017
• Tipo de documento: Artigo
• Idioma: eng
• Título da fonte: Revista Brasileira de Ciências Sociais
• Texto Completo: http://old.scielo.br/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S0102-69092017000100508
• topic: Evangelicals; Pentecostals; Candidates; Elections

What is the performance of Evangelical candidates in Brazilian legislative elections? Would Pentecostal candidates be responsible for the political representation of Evangelicals? Do Pentecostal churches have a high degree of electoral success? The Evangelicals influence in Brazilian politics has become increasingly prominent both in the media and in the academia. It is a consequence of the rapid expansion of Pentecostalism in Brazil. Previous literature assumes that Pentecostal candidates would use their congregations as “herd votes”. From a conceptual discussion of the Evangelical candidate and his church linkage, as well as a new database of Evangelical candidates, I present evidence that the share of Evangelical candidates remained stable in the last decade. Pentecostals politicians represent the vast majority of Evangelical politicians in Brazilian legislatures; however, in spite of that, the electoral success of Pentecostal churches is not as strong as it is asserted.