Political representation before the people in the 1987-1988 Constituent Assembly

The Brazilian constitutional process of 1987-1988 questioned, in practice, two modern concepts forged and sanctified by legal doctrine: the constituent power and the people. The idea of convening a constituent assembly presupposed the construction of a new legal order by the mythical original constituent power. The representatives of the constituent assembly would reflect the common desire expressed by the holder of sovereignty, and the expectation was that of a Constitution that would mirror the future envisioned by the Nation. This narrative does not allow an understanding of the facts in their complexity, however. The people were not one: they were names, interests, ideologies, aspirations, pressures, resistance, contexts, plurality. The thematic phase of the 1987-1988 constituent process emphasized the paradoxical aspect of political representation: representative democracy in the face of the popular participation simultaneously experienced. he article seeks to problematize the relationship between the political representative and the represented, given the notion of "people" that rearranges itself from the popular participation experienced in the Constituent Assembly, with emphasis on public hearings. For this purpose, bibliographic research and analysis of primary sources were used, especially the Annals of the National Constituent Assembly from 1987-1988 and official data maintained by the Chamber of Deputies and the Federal Senate of Brazil.