Bolsonarismo clings to Marinho to stay in power – 01/29/2023 – Politics

With the growing alignment of Arthur Lira (PP-AL) to the government, the radical base of Jair Bolsonaro (PL) moves social media and tries to make elected senator Rogério Marinho (PL-RN) the point of power of the former president in Brasilia.

To strengthen the former minister’s candidacy for the presidency of the Senate and defeat Rodrigo Pacheco (PSD), who is favored for re-election this Wednesday (1st), the PL negotiated the formation of a bloc with the other two acronyms that today bring together the main allies of the ex-president: PP and Republicans.

With the last elections, the benches of the three parties in the Senate became a microcosm of the last government.

Of the 23 senators, 5 were Bolsonaro’s ministers and 1 was a special secretary. Also in this block are former President of the Republic Hamilton Mourão (Republicanos-RS) and Bolsonaro’s eldest son, Flávio Bolsonaro (PL-RJ).

Pacheco was elected in 2021 with the support of Bolsonaristas and PT, which ensured that both parties had space on the Senate’s board of directors — the PL with Romário (PL-RJ) in the 2nd vice-presidency and the PT with Rogério Carvalho (PT -SE) in the 3rd secretariat.

This time, however, Pacheco threatens to isolate the PL from command positions, if his rival’s candidacy goes to the end.

According to the criterion of proportionality, the largest block or party has the right to choose which position or committee it would like to hold. Allies of the president of the Senate claim, however, that, without an agreement with Marinho, the opposing bloc will have to dispute the spaces in the vote.

Even with the threat of isolation, members of the PL claim that Marinho will not back down from his candidacy, and that this is also a commitment of the party president, Valdemar Costa Neto, to former president Jair Bolsonaro.

“I believe that Marinho is the best option for us to seek this balance between the Three Powers”, said the senator-elect and former Minister of Women Damares Alves (Republicanos-DF).

“Marinho is not a leader who shouts, he is a leader of articulation. And I believe that, at this moment, what the Senate needs is a leader who is good at dialogue”, he added, saying that he is in the midst of campaigning for his former partner. from Esplanade.

The PL tries to use Marinho’s candidacy to make a stand against the minister of the STF (Federal Supreme Court) Alexandre de Moraes —which the elected senator denied, in an interview with Sheet.

The invasion of the headquarters of the Three Powers, on January 8, made Pacheco’s allies reinforce the discourse that it is necessary to re-elect the miner to stop the coup attempt by Bolsonaro’s supporters.

“We are not going to lower our heads and intimidate ourselves for any type of intimidation, much less an attempt to criminalize politics and politicians by retrograde sectors that did not realize that they lost the election”, said Weverton Rocha (PDT-MA) when announcing the support of the bench to Pacheco.

For the future leader of the PT bench, Fabiano Contarato (PT-ES), Pacheco “demonstrated an irrefutable behavior” in defense of the democratic order. “I think that the best soil to sow and reap rights is democracy”, stated the PT.

Allies of the current president of the House maintain the accounting according to which Pacheco should have between 50 and 60 of the 81 votes – in 2021, there were 57. One of the main articulators of the campaign is Senator Davi Alcolumbre (União-AP), former president of the House that made Pacheco his successor.

Marinho’s allies, however, are betting on the betrayals and the good political transit that the senator from Rio Grande do Norte has among his colleagues. According to the group, the current scenario is tied: around 35 votes for each of the candidates and another 11 undecided.

Bolsonaristas filled senators’ email inboxes, called offices, sent messages and commented on publications on the Internet — to the point that former Bolsonaro government leader Carlos Portinho (PL-RJ) needed to ask people to do this “civilly” “.

“Do not support an inert person. The people want firm people who fulfill the functions for which they were elected. Do not betray them”, says one of the emails sent to the senators’ office, with the subject “Pacheco no”.

On social networks, supporters of Marinho remember that the President of the Senate filed an impeachment request against Alexandre de Moraes, and try to reproduce the scenario of the last elections for President of the Republic.

Rogério Marinho’s advisory states that the movement is spontaneous and that he does not agree with attempts at intimidation.

Eduardo Girão (Podemos-CE) also runs out in the race, but the senator does not even have the support of the party itself. Split between supporters of Pacheco and Marinho, Podemos must release the five members of the bench.

ELECTIONS FOR PRESIDENT OF THE SENATE

To be elected, the candidate must receive 41 votes in the first or second round.

Parties that support Rodrigo Pacheco

• PSD – 13
• MDB – 10
• EN – 9
• PDT – 3
• PSB – 2
• Network – 1
• Citizenship – 1
• TOTAL: 39

Parties that support Rogério Marinho

• PL – 13
• PP – 6
• Republicans – 4
• TOTAL: 23

Parties still undecided

• União Brasil – 10
• We can – 5
• PSDB – 4
• TOTAL: 19