2010 Acre time zone referendum

The 2010 Acre referendum consisted in decide for the maintenance or not the time zone change for the Brazilian state of Acre, as the state had an 1-hour difference from Brasília Time (UTC-03:00) in 2008, when the original time zone had minus 2 hours from Brasília.

Acre state time zone referendum
31 October 2010

Are you in favor of the recent change of legal time zone promoted in your state?

LocationAcre, Brazil (pop. 733.5k)
Outcome
  • Time zone in the state of Acre and part of Amazonas returned to UTC-05:00
  • Federal Law no. 11,662/2008 repealed
Results
Response
 Votes %
Yes 139,891 43.13%
No 184,478 56.87%
Valid votes 324,369 96.56%
Invalid or blank votes 11,552 3.44%
Total votes 335,921 100.00%
Registered voters/turnout 470,560 71.39%
Time in Brazil, since April 25, 2019.
Time in Brazil
  ACT Acre Time UTC−5 (BRT–2)
  AMT Amazon Time UTC−4 (BRT−1)
  BRT Brasília Time UTC−3 (BRT)
  FNT Fernando de Noronha Time UTC−2 (BRT+1)

History

In 1913, Executive Order 2,784 was signed,[1] which instituted for the first time the time zones in Brazil. According to paragraph d, in joint interpretation with paragraph c, Acre and the area west of the line which connects the municipalities of Tabatinga and Porto Acre, began to be part of the "fourth zone", characterized by GMT-5 (current UTC-05:00). Almost a century after the change, Federal Law no. 11,662 of 2008 was signed,[2] which, along with another change in the state of Pará (inserting it totally in the Brasília Regional Time), made the state of Acre and southwest Amazonas advance the time in one hour, to the UTC-04:00 time zone, on 23 June 2008.[3]

Reasons for change

The time zone change was a proposal by then Senator Tião Viana (PT-AC), who defended the change stating that the time difference between Acre and nearby states jeopardized the state economic and culturally.[3] After the referendum, the Abert (Brazilian Association of Radio and Television Broadcasters) manifested themselves against the return to the previous time,[4] specially due to necessary adjustments in the scheduling after the institution of the Brazilian advisory rating system by the Ministry of Justice in 2007.[5]

The referendum and its effects

The referendum was held on 31 October 2010, on the same day of the second round of the 2010 presidential election.[6] The majority of the population decided to choose to return to the previous time zone, which had a 2-hour difference from Brasília Regional Time.[7]

However, the reestablishment of the old time zone wasn't a fast or automatic process: there were political maneuvers against the validity of the referendum,[8] opposite pressure from TV broadcasters,[9][10] in a way that, almost 3 years after the referendum, its decision hadn't been put in effect, only approved by the Federal Senate committees in September 2013.[11]

As consequence, the Federal Law no. 12,876/2013 reestablished the previous time in Acre and southwest Amazonas, repealing the Federal Law no. 11,662/2008.[12] The regions covered by the change returned to the old time zone at midnight on Sunday, 10 November 2013.[13]

Result

As officially published by Electoral Justice, the result of Acre referendum was the following:

2010 Acre time zone referendum
Choice Votes %
No 184,478 56.87
Yes 139,891 43.13
Valid votes 324,369 96.56
Invalid or blank votes 11,552 3.44
Total votes 335,921 100.00
Registered voters and turnout 470,560 71.39
Source: Superior Electoral Court[14]
National referendum results
No:
184,478 (57%)		 Yes:
139,891 (43%)
▲

References
  1. Hermes da Fonseca (18 June 1913). "Decreto nº 2.784, de 18 de junho de 1913". Palácio do Planalto (in Portuguese). Retrieved 13 November 2020.
  2. Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (24 April 2008). "Lei nº 11.662, de 24 de abril de 2008". Palácio do Planalto (in Portuguese). Retrieved 13 November 2020.
  3. "Lei que altera fuso horário do Acre e parte do Amazonas é sancionada". G1 (in Portuguese). 31 October 2013. Retrieved 13 November 2020.
  4. Struck, Jean-Philip (28 February 2011). "Quatro meses após referendo, fuso horário do Acre continua o mesmo". Folha de S. Paulo (in Portuguese). Retrieved 13 November 2020.
  5. "Classificação indicativa mantém veiculação entre faixa etária e horários". O Globo (in Portuguese). 11 July 2007. Retrieved 13 November 2020.
  6. "Eleitores do Acre votam em referendo do fuso horário". G1 (in Portuguese). 31 October 2010. Retrieved 13 November 2020.
  7. "Em referendo, Acre decide pela volta de 2h de diferença no fuso horário". O Globo (in Portuguese). 1 November 2010. Retrieved 13 November 2020.
  8. Vaz, Roberto (11 July 2012). "Senador cassado idealizou contra validade de referendo sobre hora do Acre". AC24Horas (in Portuguese). Retrieved 13 November 2020.
  9. Machado, Altino (18 February 2011). "Globo tenta impedir que o Acre adote fuso horário aprovado em referendo". ViOMundo (in Portuguese). Retrieved 13 November 2020.
  10. "Petecão: "Não vou ceder a pressões sobre o fuso horário do Acre"". SenaOnline.net (in Portuguese). 23 February 2011. Retrieved 13 November 2020.
  11. "Senado aprova proposta que restabelece fuso horário do Acre e Amazonas". Correio Braziliense (in Portuguese). 26 September 2013. Retrieved 13 November 2020.
  12. Dilma Rousseff (30 October 2013). "Lei nº 12.876, de 30 de outubro de 2013". Palácio do Planalto (in Portuguese). Retrieved 13 November 2020.
  13. Ribeiro, Veriana (9 November 2013). "Volta de fuso deixa o Acre a 3h de Brasília a partir deste domingo". G1 (in Portuguese). Retrieved 13 November 2020.
  14. "Referendo 2010 - Resultado da totalização - Acre" (in Portuguese). Justiça Eleitoral. 1 November 2010. Retrieved 13 November 2020. Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
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