Bolsonaro’s ineligibility divides opinion of businessmen – 06/30/2023 – Market

The decision of the TSE (Superior Electoral Court) to make ex-president Jair Bolsonaro (PL) ineligible divides the opinion of Brazilian businessmen.

Horácio Lafer Piva, a member of Klabin’s board of directors and former president of Fiesp, says that this was a melancholy and fair end, in view of “a crazy journey” since its beginning.

“Justice stumbles, but advances. May it work as a message. Brazil no longer needs martyrs or heroes, but management, democracy and transparency”, he says.

For Lawrence Pih, one of the first businessmen to support the PT, Bolsonaro’s ineligibility closes a chapter of the most critical “assault on our democracy”.

“Bolsonaro was removed, but Bolsonarism remains intact. The next phase will be the dispute over who will inherit Bolsonarism’s political spoils. Bolsonaro will continue to have significant relevance in the radical right movement. What he unleashed will not disappear, the country’s polarization is established as in many other countries. The clash has already begun, and the 2024 elections will be a fierce ideological struggle and a preamble to 2026. Brazil is always a country of strong emotions”, he says.

In turn, Ricardo Lacerda, founder of the investment bank BR Partners, points to a political motivation for the decision.

“As with Lula’s arrest, despite the evidence, the impression remains of a judgment that is more political than technical. It seems that, in Brazil, punishment is very selective and aligned with specific interests. It would be better for political things to be resolved in the polls. In any case, the institutions are working and it’s time for the country to look forward”, says Lacerda.

Paulo Solmucci, president of Abrasel (which represents the restaurant sector), says he hopes that more auspicious times will present themselves. “It is regrettable that the country is experiencing a sequence in which its last four representatives are punished by courts or by Congress.”

Renato Meirelles, president of the Locomotiva Institute, says that, despite the decision, Bolsonaro will continue to have influence over the right.

“Bolsonaro, even with his ineligibility, remains a fundamental electoral force for the right, however, without the capacity to attract the ‘neither nor’ voter – who is a subject averse to the radicalized model of doing politics and contrary to the vast majority of the Bolsonarista customs agenda,” he says.

This Friday (30), the TSE decided, by 5 votes to 2, to make Bolsonaro ineligible for eight years. The former president, who is 68 years old, 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 national one in 2026.

Ministers Benedito Gonçalves, Floriano de Azevedo Marques Neto, André Ramos Tavares, Cármen Lúcia and Alexandre de Moraes voted to recognize the abuse of political power and the misuse of the media by the former president.