‘Bolsonaro week’ materializes former president’s threat to Paes – 10/02/2024 – Power

More than a year after “Lula day” promoted by mayor Eduardo Paes (PSD), federal deputy Alexandre Ramagem (PL) is betting on a kind of “Bolsonaro week” in this final stretch of the campaign, with successive agendas alongside the former president Jair Bolsonaro (PL) to try to take the dispute for Rio de Janeiro City Hall to the second round.

Bolsonaro’s arrival also materializes the threat made by the former president to Paes on the last day of the campaign in 2022, when he promised to “give payback” for the mayor’s support for President Lula in that dispute.

Bolsonaro will arrive in Rio de Janeiro this Wednesday (2) and has plans planned next to Ramagem from Thursday (3) until Saturday (5), the day before the election. Before that, he will go to Paraty and Angra dos Reis, on the south coast of the state

In addition to the capital, the only city in the metropolitan region on the former president’s agenda is Duque de Caxias, stronghold of former federal deputy Washington Reis (MDB), whose family is at the center of the investigation into the alleged fraud on Bolsonaro’s vaccination card . He will have an agenda alongside Netinho Reis (MDB), the ally’s nephew, who is running for local mayor.

The focus of the former president’s agenda is to try to take the dispute in the capital of Rio de Janeiro to the second round. Ramagem’s political coordination strategy was to concentrate Bolsonaro’s presence in the final stretch, in order to create a wave of support for the federal deputy’s candidacy.

There was an expectation that Bolsonaro would dedicate the entire final week to Ramagem. The candidate even mentioned this possibility when asked about the delay in a public agenda with the former president — the last one took place in July, in the pre-campaign.

“It doesn’t take long at all. He set aside the last week [para o Rio de Janeiro]. We have 5,500 municipalities. The last week of the first round he dedicated to Rio de Janeiro”, he said, two weeks ago.

Ramagem started the campaign with a high rate of ignorance, including among Bolsonarists. With the start of TV advertising, the former director of Abin (Brazilian Intelligence Agency) managed to increase voting intentions among the former president’s supporters.

The deputy had specific agendas alongside councilor Carlos Bolsonaro (PL), who is seeking re-election, and senator Flávio Bolsonaro (PL). First Lady Michelle Bolsonaro participated in an event with the candidate two weeks ago. However, the agendas were not enough to attract most of the former president’s voters, according to polls.

The objective of this final stretch is precisely to increase the attraction of supporters of the former president to Ramagem’s candidacy. One of the main focuses will be the evangelical vote. Voting intention polls show that Mayor Eduardo Paes (PSD), who is seeking re-election, maintains the lead in this segment of the electorate, generally associated with Bolsonarism.

Bolsonaro’s arrival demonstrates the former president’s personal commitment to expanding political strength in Rio de Janeiro, his electoral base in which he won in 2022. It also gives substance to the message given to Paes on the last platform of the presidential campaign, two years ago.

“He received money from the federal government, he filled the city hall’s coffers with our money. This ungrateful bum who keeps lying around, saying that I’m going to mistreat workers and retirees. Tramp and liar. He’ll get his payback in 2024” , he said in his last campaign agenda two years ago, in Campo Grande (west zone).

Shortly after the act, Paes spoke out on social media. He called the president “unqualified and incompetent”, “king of ‘rachadinha'”, criticized him for supporting former mayor Marcelo Crivella (Republicans) in the 2020 election and provoked him about the municipal election, which is now approaching.

“I already defeated you in 2020 and it may come in 2024 that I defeat you again. If you are the candidate, after losing the election, it will be even better,” he said.

Two years later, the mayor prefers to deflate the nationalization of the dispute with Bolsonaro. He says that this is not a direct conflict with the former president and even questions his commitment to supporting Ramagem.

“I don’t think so [é um confronto direto com Bolsonaro]. Otherwise we would already have much more of his presence here. I’m going to make a guess: honestly, I think he… The guy didn’t record him, right? So, I don’t even know what that relationship is. The guy recorded it without him knowing,” he said, in reference to the meeting recorded by Ramagem of the president with lawyers for senator Flávio Bolsonaro (PL) to deal with investigations into the “rachadinha” case.

Bolsonaro’s sequence of scheduled agendas alongside Ramagem contrasts with the distance maintained by Paes from President Lula, who supports him. The PT member did not have any campaign agenda with the mayor.

Paes’ commitment to the president’s side took place mainly during the months before the election, when the mayor sought to guarantee PT’s support without being required to give up his vice position. In August last year, he even called “Lula day” a day of institutional agendas alongside his ally.

After securing the “pure-blood” ticket alongside Eduardo Cavaliere (PSD) with support from the PT, Paes began to highlight his difference with the president and his party. During the campaign, he has said that he maintains partnerships with the federal government, but highlighted that he is from another party and has specific differences with his ally.