Caçique /Caçiquismo

   Portuguese (and Spanish or Castilian) words for local, regional political boss and the practice and system of local, regional bossism in Portugal and Spain, beginning in the 19th century. The word cacique is derived from the corruption of an Amerindian word in the Caribbean and South America for "chief" or "lord" in the 16th and 17th centuries. In Portugal and Spain, under the constitutional monarchy and later, the local or regional political boss, or cacique, was the central government's informal representative or local authority, who may or may not have held office in the formal administrative system of municipalities, parishes, counties, districts, and provinces. Political parties in the capitals (Lisbon and Madrid) exercised their influence in the provinces through local figures of importance, such as the mayor of the Câmara Municipal (City Hall), alderman, clerk, or judge, who, come election time, would manage and/or rig elections at the municipal or other levels.

   The political party based in the capital would depend on the cacique to ensure electoral victory in his area or hometown. To get the requisite votes, the local political boss, then, would have a quid pro quo for the voter: in return for a vote for the indicated party, the cacique would reward the voter (or eleitor, in the Portuguese language) with incentives such as payment in money, a tax break, a job for the voter or a relative, or, in some instances, an excuse from the obligation of serving in the armed forces for a draftee. The systematic use of local bosses in the institution of bossism as described here endured from the last half of the 19th century to the 1920s, under the First Republic, and into the Estado Novo in Portugal, and in the case of Spain, into the Primo de Rivera regime (1923-30).