Check out the main points of attention for lobbying in an election year in the new article written by our partners at Strategos Jr. Political Consulting at UnB.

Institutional and government relations professionals need to be aware of the details that affect the dynamics of the political scenario during elections. Check out below the analysis and tips from Strategos Jr. Political Consulting on how to act with lobbying in an election year. Enjoy reading!

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Election Year: What are the challenges for lobbyists?

Exchanges of political actors in the executive, processing of PLs in Congress, and more...

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The solidification of Institutions and the constant development of democracy require broad popular participation in political decision-making, and this requires a bridge of dialogue to be built between voters and their representatives in parliament. Likewise, communication between the public authorities and private organizations and the third sector is necessary.

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In this way, the Government Relations professional (RelGov) emerges as a mediator of dialogue between these three agents and seeks to bring the yearnings of the first, second, and third sectors of the economy to the political debate. Although they arise with the same principle, typically, "lobbying" is more related to the activity that defends the interests of private institutions and "advocacy" is seen as the action that defends a cause before parliament.

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The election year imposes some challenges on the RelGov professional. One of them is the election of legislative agents with interests contrary to those defended by the lobbyist. Candidates who defend ending the use of pesticides, if elected, can negatively impact agribusiness sectors and require a reconfiguration in institutional relationship strategies and engagement with stakeholders, for example. The exchange of political actors in the executive is a good thermometer to trace strategies, as it is possible to predict the government's priorities based on the proposals of candidates for the Presidency of the Republic.

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The election year can also impose an obstacle to the processing of more controversial legislative matters in Congress, since, in general, the pace of the legislative branch slows down due to election campaigns. This is the case, for example, of the Tax Reform, which is currently pending in the Federal Senate, but still with no expectation that it will be voted on before the October elections. This occurs because parliamentarians fear that the proposal will harm the revenue of States and Municipalities, generating an indisposition between candidates and their electorate.

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What are the points of attention? Care in relationships and Compliance

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In addition to the aforementioned challenges, the Government Relations professional must pay attention to some other important points when exercising their activities in election years, especially those who act directly in relationships with political actors. When influencing the creation of public policies, the lobbyist must follow ethical, democratic, and constitutional principles, otherwise, the activity can generate unfair competition that escapes the public interest, and may even be characterized as illegal.

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An efficient way to stay attentive to the rules related to the exercise of lobbying is compliance, a set of rules based on the preventive notion of law, which can guarantee ethical interactions between companies and the Public Authority. Thus, one of the main roles of compliance is to strengthen the company's image in the market, since it prevents weakening factors from occurring, avoiding bad situations, and consequently, preventing it from being harmed by contexts that would affect its image in the market. In this way, compliance can be differentiated into 4 categories: corporate, labor, tax, and fiscal, and it is only in their junction that ethical relations between the private and public sectors can be guaranteed, allowing a correct practice of lobbying.

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Furthermore, in addition to prevention, it is also essential to pay attention to the processing of proposals that aim to regulate lobbying in Brazil, which has been a recurring agenda in recent years for the Government Relations area. An example of this is PL 1202/2017, proposed by Deputy Carlos Zarattini (PT - SP), which aims to discipline the "lobbying" activity and the actions of pressure or interest groups and the like within the organs and entities of the Federal Public Administration, and is currently awaiting deliberation in the Plenary, and the most recent project presented in the Chamber by the Executive Branch, PL 4391/2021, which aims to institute general rules for the private representation of interests with public agents and which awaits the presentation of the report by the Rapporteur Dep. Augusto Coutinho (REPUBLICANOS/PE) at the CTASP.

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