Brazil Needs More of Cardoso

Brazilian President Fernando Henrique Cardoso’s ambitious reform program is already bearing spectacular fruit, pounding down inflation and lifting trade barriers just two years into his four-year presidential term. But one term is just not enough to turn the great but limping ship that is Brazil. Which is why, if all goes well, Brazil’s legislature will clear the way for a constitutional amendment to allow him to seek reelection. Second terms are forbidden now.

Cardoso passed his first and toughest hurdle when the lower house voted in favor of the amendment measure two weeks ago. A second lower-house vote must now be taken, followed by two votes in the upper house. If the legislature says yes to the proposed constitutional amendment all four times, voters will make the final decision in October 1998.

When Cardoso began his program as finance minister in 1994, inflation was running at 5,000% annually. Today, the rate hovers around 10%, the lowest level since the 1950s. His initiatives toward free trade are also making progress. But he needs more time to undo the barriers built by decades of isolation and protectionist legislation. If Cardoso succeeds, the “giant of the South” will join Chile and Argentina in the small club of Latin American reformist nations that may lead the hemisphere into a brighter future.

The president’s bid for reelection has raised eyebrows among those who worry it may trigger a stampede for reelection of national leaders across the hemisphere. After all, they note, Peru and Argentina have already amended their constitutions to allow presidential reelection. They wonder: Is democracy rooted well enough to withstand stronger executive power?

Though the question is valid, the concern about reelection is overblown. Other nations of the hemisphere are unlikely to blindly follow Peru, Argentina and, if the constitutional amendment is approved, Brazil; each of these has acted on the basis of its own historical experience. In the case of Brazil, concern is mitigated by healthy separation of powers and equilibrium of forces, in evidence when the legislature impeached a president accused of corruption a few years back.

Brazilian voters should be able to return a successful president to office for one more term. Cardoso more than qualifies for the opportunity.