The present chapter analyzes the key role that leading the legislative opposition until 2002 played in building and reinforcing the PT's development and reputation as a strong left party with a mass bureaucratic profile. This institutional arena, less subject to strong pressures to adapt than its mayoral and presidential counterparts, was conducive to promoting the party's left programmatic leanings and its strong and disciplined organization. Key aspects of continuity in the party's distinctive identity and organizational uniqueness are rooted in its development within this body of government. Institutional rules governing election to the lower house of Congress, together with the logic of the PT's opposition role, supported the retention of a strategy aimed at furthering the party's distinctive profile and long-term growth. Like many other parties that develop over a long period in national-level opposition, the PT grew in organizational strength (Panebianco 1988: 69). The most prominent changes within the PT were enacted vis-à-vis other institutional arenas. However, rather than replacing important elements of continuity that existed in the legislative sphere, they emerged and developed alongside them. This led to the coexistence of discrepant policies embraced by the party and hybrid images it projected for many years.