Bolsonaro ineligible now targets victim speech – 06/30/2023 – Politics

Jair Bolsonaro (PL) has already outlined plans to remain “100% active” in politics after the TSE (Superior Electoral Court) declared him ineligible. The former president, 68, will only be able to run again in 2030, at the age of 75, thus staying away from three elections until then (one of which is the 2026 national one).

Bolsonaro and allies want to use the spotlight to invest in the image that the former president would be the victim of an unfair process.

The speech begins by pointing out differences in the treatment given to his case and the process, also analyzed by the TSE, on the ticket of Dilma Rousseff (PT) and Michel Temer (MDB).

In 2017, the electoral court acquitted the ticket formed by Dilma and Temer. In addition to the fact that the action took longer, allies of the former president point out that on that occasion the TSE did not admit the inclusion of elements that were not in the file since the beginning of the process – contrary to what happened in the case of Bolsonaro.

On the 22nd, a few hours before the TSE started to judge his case, Bolsonaro told the Sheet who would like to remain active in politics.

“At my age, [o que] would like to do, remain active 100% in politics. And, taking away your political rights, which, in my opinion, is an affront, you lose a little bit of that gas “, he said.

The performance that Bolsonaro intends to maintain is focused on his position as honorary president of the PL. He took over the post when he returned to Brazil from the United States, where he had traveled in the last days of last year as a way of not fulfilling the traditional rite of passing the presidential sash to his successor.

The party rented a commercial space in Brasilia for the former president to work. The former first lady Michelle Bolsonaro (president of PL Mulher) and former minister Braga Netto also took up positions in the PL.

According to allies, Bolsonaro receives parliamentarians, mayors and councilors, among others. These politicians often use a photo next to the former president as an asset in their bases.

Another routine that Bolsonaro wants to maintain is that of travel. While the TSE held the first session of the trial of his case, on the 22nd, Bolsonaro participated in a meeting with truck drivers in Rio Grande do Sul.

On Sunday (25th), he was in São Paulo to watch the soccer game between Palmeiras and Botafogo. The expectation is that he will make weekly trips from now on.

The former president became the main political asset of the PL, which wants to keep him as an electoral force.

According to party interlocutors, Bolsonaro has electoral value regardless of the result of the TSE. The assessment is that he has strong potential for transferring votes to right-wing candidates.

Furthermore, these potential candidates do not necessarily carry the rejection associated with Bolsonaro, something that is also seen as an asset by the PL.

Behind the scenes, there is a discussion about possible names that could be Bolsonaro’s successors. The governors of São Paulo, Tarcísio de Freitas (Republicans), of Minas Gerais, Romeu Zema (Novo), and of Paraná, Ratinho (PSD) are frequently mentioned. The name of Senator and former Minister Tereza Cristina (PP-MS) has also been mentioned.

Bolsonaro himself avoids the topic so as, in his words, not to “throw in the towel”.

“Sorry here, I don’t like to talk about the ‘if’ [for declarado inelegível]”, he said to Sheet Day 22.

“We can’t start from that line [inelegibilidade]what [eu] would be throwing in the towel. What do I see, what is the main accusation against me? Meeting with ambassadors. That’s a crime? Two months before my meeting, Mr. Edson Fachin [ministro do Supremo] met with ambassadors as well. Foreign policy is exclusive to the President of the Republic”.

Bolsonaro was judged in an Aije (electoral judicial investigation action) filed by the PDT in August 2022 and which called for the former chief executive to be ineligible.

Aije was the first action that called for the overthrow of Bolsonaro’s ticket because of the speech given by the then president to foreign ambassadors in July last year. On the occasion, he fired against the credibility of the Brazilian electoral system.

The legend claimed that he abused political power and made improper use of the media, which his defense denies.

Although some allies are suspicious of the energy that Bolsonaro promises to dedicate to politics, there are those who claim that he has embraced the task of making party politics.

Bolsonaro and Valdemar Costa Neto, president of the PL, have been discussing the candidacies in the main centers.

The former representative, for example, has spoken in defense of his former Minister of Tourism, Gilson Machado. He insists that Machado have the support of the party to run for mayor of Recife. The former minister did not have a good electoral performance when he tried to be elected to the Senate last year.

In Goiás, the arm wrestling match between the leader and honorary president of the PL had another outcome. Bolsonaro wanted to launch former deputy Major Vitor Hugo for mayor of the state capital. With 14.81% of the votes when he ran for the government of Goiás last year, he was unable to convince the PL to hand over the caption in Goiânia.

According to interlocutors, the party agreed to launch Vitor Hugo for the city hall of Anápolis (GO), a territory with a large Bolsonarist electorate.