José Maria Eymael

José Maria Eymael (Porto Alegre, on November 2, 1939) is a Brazilian politician, lawyer, businessman, and founder of the Partido Social Democrata Cristão (PSDC), known in English as the Christian Social Democratic Party.

Eymael joined the Christian Democratic Party (PDC) in 1962, in Porto Alegre, becoming a member the Young Christian Democrats. The PDC was extinguished by the Institutional Act number two on October 27, 1965, during Brazil's military dictatorship, and was refounded in 1985. Eymael was responsible for its reorganization in the state of São Paulo.

In 1985 Eymael was a candidate for mayor of São Paulo, but lost the election. However, the PDC's campaign jingle, with the chorus "Ey Ey Eymael", helped make him popular, and has been associated with him throughout his political career.

In 1986 and again in 1990, he was elected to the Chamber of Deputies of Brazil, the lower house of the National Congress of Brazil. He ran again for mayor of São Paulo in 1992 but lost again.

In 1993 the PDC merged with the Democratic Social Party (Partido Democrático Social, PDS), forming the Reform Progressive Party (Partido Progressista Reformador, PPR). Eymael, opposed the merge and left the PPR. In 1995, he founded the PSDC, whose professes a commitment to the family, to defend their values and full service for their needs.

Accomplishments as a Member of the Chamber of Deputies

Congressional Deputy Eymael was rated by the Inter-unionist Department of Parliamentary Advising (Departamento Intersindical de Assessoria Parlamentar, DIAP) as one of the twelve most influential lawmakers in Congress and at the end of the work of the Constituent National Assembly he had 145 proposals approved, placing was among the fifteen with the highest number. Among these proposals, there are the following:

• Advance notice of 30 days for all workers;
• Workweek of 44 hours;
• Employee's right to leisure;
• Prohibition of the existence of tax for purposes of confiscation;
• Requirement for taxpayers in the same situation have the same tax treatment;
• Admissibility of an injunction also against acts by any corporation in the exercise of public functions;
• Chance of GST be lower for most needed products, such as the products that comprise the market basket;
• Article 180 of the Constitution, which obliges the Union, states and municipalities to support and encourage tourism as a factor in economic and social development;
• Article 17 of the Temporary Constitutional Provisions Act, which states that whenever a public official to receive compensation or retirement incomes exceed the constitutional limits, these values must be lowered immediately to those limits, not fitting in this case, invocation of rights acquired;
• Obligatoriness of unions, states and municipalities to publish until the 30th of each month the amounts collected or received in that month, thus enabling the society's control over public revenue;
• Duty of adult children caring for parents in aging conditions, narrow circumstances or sickness (Article 229 of the Constitution);

While in the National Constituent Assembly, Eymael was also the author of the speech advocating the retention of the name of God in the preamble of the Constitution, opposing its proposed removal.

Presidential candidacies

Eymael was a candidate for president in 1998, 2006 and 2010, traveling in each campaign through every Brazilian state. In the 2010 election, Eymael gathered 89,350 votes, placing fifth.

Jose Maria Eymael is a lawyer specializing in taxes and an entrepreneur in the areas of marketing and communications. He is married, and has two children and five grandchildren.