Congress still tramples on Brazilians' rights 25 years after election campaign

He singled out three top members for particular criticism: Sarney, who has been accused of using his influence to enrich his family; Renan Calheiros, who resigned as Senate chairman in 2007 amid allegations of corruption; and Jader Barbalho, who also resigned from the same post in 2002 accused of plundering 2 billion reais (US$922 million) from public funds.

The PMDB has hit back, in turn, by publicising embarrassing information about Tião Viana, the PT candidate Sarney beat. It turned out that Viana had loaned his daughter an official cellular phone to use during a trip to Mexico which left the taxpayer with a 14,000 reais bill (about US$6,400).

The PMDB also leaked information about a leading PSDB senator, Tasso Jereissati, who was accused of using 500,000 reais (US$230,000) of Senate funds to hire private planes even though he owned a private jet. These cases are only the tip of the iceberg and could be repeated for the House of Representatives as well as the state and municipal governments.

This is the reality of Brazilian politics today. Unfortunately voters are no longer fired by the idealism of 25 years ago when hundreds of thousands of people from all backgrounds took to the streets to demand their civil rights. Unless this changes, Brazilians may have to wait another 25 years before they enjoy genuine democracy as opposed to the charade which passes for parliamentary democracy today.