Ally of Leite resumes command of the PSDB-SP – 03/13/2024 – Power

The national president of the PSDB, Marconi Perillo, announced that the party leadership decided to appoint the mayor of Santo André (SP), Paulo Serra, to lead the party in the state of São Paulo. The mayor of Ribeirão Preto (SP), Duarte Nogueira, in turn, was appointed to preside over the PSDB-Cidadania federation in the state.

The position had been vacant since Friday (8), when Perillo intervened in the PSDB-SP and removed former deputy and former secretary Marco Vinholi from the state presidency. Before him, Serra was the one who temporarily led the party. Wanted by SheetVinholi says he was not informed of Paulo Serra’s appointment this Wednesday (13).

According to Serra, the new executive appointed by Perillo should remain in charge of the PSDB-SP at least until 2025, with no plans for a new convention before then.

With the decision, Perillo intends to put an end to yet another soap opera that is dragging on in São Paulo’s tucanato, divided between Paulo Serra’s group, which is linked to governor Eduardo Leite (PSDB-RS), and Vinholi, linked to former governors João Doria and Rodrigo Garcia —now both outside the PSDB.

On the 6th, Vinholi was elected president of the PSDB-SP at a meeting of the state directory that was contested by a wing of the party on the grounds that some of the members were not even summoned. For Vinholi’s allies, what happened was an attempt by Serra to postpone the meeting, which had a quorum despite this.

Perillo then accepted two representations, one of them formulated by former senator José Aníbal, current municipal president of the PSDB in the capital of São Paulo, and removed Vinholi.

In a note, Perillo says that the appointments of Serra and Duarte were made in “common agreement with the majority of the party in São Paulo”. “We will resume our work of rebuilding the party in the state and I am sure we will have excellent electoral results this year in São Paulo”, he adds.

A Sheet Paulo Serra states that he does not believe that Vinholi will appeal the decision, as there was a lot of dialogue, including from Perillo, and that the former deputy nominated names for the composition of the executive. “The construction that was done is collective,” he says.

As anticipated by SheetPerillo’s intervention to remove Vinholi was one of the reasons that led former governor Rodrigo Garcia to ask for PSDB’s disaffiliation on Monday (11).

Paulo Serra says that Rodrigo “was a great person, with a lot of preparation and a great manager”, but that his departure was not a surprise, given that he decided to step away from public life to run a law firm. “For me it didn’t come as a surprise, because he had already said about his distance from politics, so it was just a realization.”

Seven months before the municipal election, Serra has the challenge of organizing a party diminished and fragmented by the electoral defeat in São Paulo in 2022 and the series of internal conflicts. In the capital of São Paulo, the PSDB has not yet decided whether it will launch its own candidate or whether it will support mayor Ricardo Nunes (MDB), who was Bruno Covas’ deputy (PSDB), or deputy Tabata Amaral (PSB).

“This is a sensitive topic, which will still have a lot of debate and discussion. The general rule is to launch candidacy in important cities, which is what I will defend, but within a competitiveness criterion”, says Paulo Serra, adding that Aníbal is the one who will be at the forefront of the decision.

“We understand that, because Ricardo was deputy, he has a connection [com o partido] and the participation of staff in the current management”, he adds.

Without competitive names to present, a large part of the PSDB, including the group of councilors, defends the alliance with Nunes, who maintained PSDB staff in his administration. Aníbal, however, is seen in the party as a Tabata enthusiast.

Regarding the elections in the state, Serra states that the PSDB already has around 50 to 70 pre-candidates in several cities. “Our deadline is short, but we are creating a task force. The loss of the government [em 2022] and this imbroglio and uncertainty that the party has experienced mean that there is no longer quantitative vigor, but we have quality staff.”

Serra says he wants to double the current number of mayors in São Paulo, which is around 20. In 2020, the PSDB elected 172 mayors and reached 238 in 2022.

In the long term, he aims to build Leite’s presidential candidacy in 2026. Asked about wanting to run for the Government of São Paulo, Paulo Serra responds that it is too early to think about that.

On February 25th, the PSDB-SP reached an understanding and presented a single ticket in the election for the new state directory. Then, however, disagreements began regarding who would lead the executive, with Vinholi and Serra tipped for the position.

Vinholi was president of the PSDB-SP from 2019 to November 2023, a period in which the party was at the service of Doria’s presidential project, which did not work out.

With Leite’s ascension to command of the national PSDB in 2023, Vinholi ended up being removed from office due to an intervention by the gaucho, who appointed his ally Serra provisionally — which intensified the division in the São Paulo tucanato and led to the current disputes after the election of the new directory.