REFERENDUMS
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Referendum on the maintenance of the parliamentarian system (1963) - With the resignation of President Jânio Quadros, on August 25th, 1961, the Ministers of War, Aeronautics and Navy published a manifesto in which they declared their rejection to the replacement of Jânio by his Vice-president João Goulart, who was on a trip to China at the time. To tackle the political crisis, the National Congress approved the Constitutional Amendment No. 4/1961, which guaranteed Goulart's installation by instituting the parliamentarian system, making him head of State, but not head of government. This amendment ordered a law that could "rule on a plebiscite to decide on the maintenance of the parliamentarian system or the return to the presidential system which, in such a case, should be held nine months before the term of the current presidential period." This way, the consultation was to be carried out in 1965. However, on September 16th, 1962, the Congress passed the Complementary Law No. 2, bringing the consultation forward to January 6th, 1963, and calling it a referendum. More than 9 million voters decided for the return to the presidential system, which was reestablished by the Constitutional Amendment No. 6/1963, against little more than 2 million voters, who opted for the maintenance of the parliamentarian system.