But even as lawmakers elected in October took the oath of office in
                  Brasilia's elegant, twin-towered parliament, calls for reforms to counter a
                  currency devaluation were drowned out by traditional squabbling within the
                  government's multi-party alliance.

                  About 30 members of the 513-strong lower house have already swapped
                  parties in the four months since the election.

                  "This to-and-fro between the parties is the perfect portrait of a system of
                  representation that is completely distorted," said political columnist Dora
                  Kramer in the Rio de Janeiro newspaper Jornal do Brasil.

                  About 20 parties jostle for power in Congress, with four or five big ones
                  constantly wooing new members to bolster their chances of controlling
                  important parliamentary committees and gaining Cabinet seats.

                  "There's no such thing as party discipline," said Arnaldo Madeira, the
                  government's chief whip in the lower house of Congress. "When it comes to
                  big votes, we have to negotiate with almost every single lawmaker, one by
                  one."

                  Madeira said the government would need plenty of support in coming
                  months as it attempted to complete voting on the last measures in an
                  emergency austerity plan, and then begin work on pension, tax and political
                  reforms.

                  "There will be an initial period of settling down, but I think the government
                  will have a comfortable majority again," Madeira told Reuters.

                  The government enjoys the support of about 380 members of the volatile
                  lower house, down about 10 from the previous Congress, but still enough, in
                  theory, to approve key measures easily.

                  But Cardoso's administration sustained several stinging defeats in the lower
                  house over the past four years as it tried to ram through an ambitious
                  programme to modernise the economy.

                  Failure to get approval for key cost-cutting reforms caught up with Brazil last
                  month when investors pulled $8 billion out of the country, leaving the
                  government with no choice but to allow its cherished, inflation-busting
                  currency, the real, to float.

                  The real has since plunged 40 percent against the dollar, raising fears that the
                  massive inflation it tamed in 1994 might roar back. Should that happen,
                  analysts say, Cardoso's wavering control over Congress could weaken
                  further.

                  "The basis of (Cardoso's) support was always his ability to control inflation.
                  It was his big flag and now unfortunately it's in tatters," said political
                  consultant Ricardo Pedreira.

                  For now, however, Congress is expected to rally behind the government and
                  make quick progress on bills to tackle Brazil's dire financial situation.

                  "Congress will not make any concessions," said Senate leader Sen. Antonio
                  Carlos Magalhaes in a speech after being re-elected as president of the
                  upper house. "The sovereignty of the homeland is its currency and protecting
                  it is the duty of every Brazilian who loves his country."

                  Some lawmakers, however, appeared to have other priorities.

                  Monday's swearing-in ceremony was marked by tribute to a murdered
                  member of the lower house, gunned down with four family members in the
                  northeastern state of Alagoas. Last week a congressional panel voted to
                  begin the process of expelling her substitute, who is suspected of ordering
                  the killing.

                  There were further blows to the image of Congress when local media
                  reported that a member of the lower house was under investigation for
                  allegedly pocketing public funds while serving as a mayor, and that police
                  arrested another deputy for causing a fight on a flight to Brasilia.

                   Copyright 1999 Reuters.