Bolsonaro wants to go to the Northeast and resume motorcycle rides – 03/31/2023 – Politics

Former president Jair Bolsonaro (PL), who returned to Brazil on Thursday (30), made it clear to allies that he intends to remain in the spotlight and said he wanted to travel the country to defend his government.

During a meeting he held with parliamentarians and politicians on his first day in Brasília, the former president also told General Walter Braga Netto (PL), who was running for vice on his ticket, wanting to ride a motorcycle again.

According to reports from people present, Bolsonaro suggested that he could go for a walk this Sunday (2).

During his government, Bolsonaro carried out several motociatas. At these events, hundreds of motorcycle supporters gathered to ride with the then president — who on several occasions broke traffic rules by riding without a helmet.

Travel schedule is not ready. According to former minister Gilson Machado (Tourism), the idea is also to take car tours around the country.

Machado claims that Bolsonaro expresses a great desire to go to the Northeast, the only region in which Bolsonaro was defeated by Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (PT) in the 2022 elections.

“He really wants to run in the Northeast. It was there that we had a vote that was not what we expected. And there we had the largest number of people in the events we held. You have to understand what happened there”, says Machado.

He adds that Bolsonaro should also go to Portugal, in May, for an event of conservative politicians.

According to members of the PL, Bolsonaro’s travel schedule should be defined next week. The itinerary will be resolved after analysis by the party president, Valdemar Costa Neto, who will use surveys ordered by the party.

The decision on the places to be visited will be guided by the PL’s objective of increasing the number of mayors and councilors in the 2024 election. Bolsonaro said on Thursday that he intends to make “one or two trips to Brazil each month”.

Although he has publicly stated that he does not intend to “be the leader of the opposition”, the signs he gave when he returned to Brazil go in the opposite direction.

The former chief executive landed in Brasília in the morning from a flight originating in Orlando. Bolsonaro had been in the United States since December 2022, when he left the country so as not to pass the presidential sash to Lula.

He then went to the PL office, in the central region of the capital, where he met with Valdemar and former first lady Michelle Bolsonaro, as well as a group of allied parliamentarians.

According to allies, the former chief executive has been advised to attend popular festivals in the interior of the country, such as São João de Caruaru (PE) and Festa do Peão de Barretos (SP). These interlocutors highlight that the direct confrontation with the government on specific agendas must be done by the Bolsonarist group in Congress.

During the campaign, he received similar advice. Research showed that Bolsonaro performed better and lessened rejection when he was not critical or aggressive.

In addition to saying that he wants to travel the country to defend “what he did”, Bolsonaro told allies what he said in public about his intention to help the party grow in the municipal elections.

The former president stated that he intends to meet with mayors, deputies and small parties that are allies to make political articulations and elect as many candidates as possible.

In addition to Bolsonaro, the PL wants Michelle and Braga Netto to also take on a travel agenda.

The caption’s objective is to make the most of the “political assets” they consider to have.

Faced with the possibility that Bolsonaro will be declared ineligible by the TSE (Superior Electoral Court), Bolsonaro’s allies began to work with the hypothesis that Michelle could be a candidate for the Presidency in his place.

The former representative, however, rejected this possibility in an interview with Jovem Pan on Thursday. He also said that she “has no experience” and that she “lacks something”.

“Someone mentioned her name. She already said that she doesn’t want to know about a position in the Executive, she’s out of it, not least because she doesn’t have the experience. Even for you to be mayor is not easy. I see some mayors who, when they end their mandate, despite having done a good job, they regret it given the number of cases that respond to administrative impropriety”, declared Bolsonaro.