Oppositionists, vacancies of one third and parliamentary elections: the case of the disputes for the position of federal deputy in Paraná (1915-1918)

Abstract

This article contains an investigation about the campaigns and electoral performance of opposition candidates for the position of federal deputy by the State of Paraná in the years 1915 and 1918. Through a case study, the present analysis aims to produce knowledge about the nature and impacts of oppositionist electoral strategies in a context characterized by the ephemeral duration and of parties of opposition in that State. There are three fundamental arguments supported in this article. At that time, therefore, the political clashes in that state were carried out by veteran politicians who, at early of the First Republic, had integrated the party of the government. The second argument affirms that the electoral victories of the opposition were derived from the government's not filling in a complete plaque of candidates for federal deputy. The third argument finally states that a similarity between political-electoral life in Paraná and that of states that also had a single electoral district was the fact that, in the 1910s, the opposition did not have the electoral base to ambition the integral control of the vacancies of federal deputy. In this context, this article classifies the political elite of the 1910s as a “competitive oligarchy”, whose internal conflicts propitiated party polarization in the state.