Boulos and Marta meet at lunch to seal the ticket – 01/13/2024 – Power

Former mayor Marta Suplicy receives for lunch this Saturday (13) the pre-candidate for mayor Guilherme Boulos (PSOL), of whom she should be vice-president, following a call from President Lula (PT) for her to leave the Ricardo Nunes administration ( MDB) and returned to PT after nine years.

Boulos arrived at Marta’s residence at around 1:50 pm. The former mayor and her husband, businessman Márcio Toledo, who acts as her political coordinator, organized the meeting in their apartment, in Jardins, an upscale area of ​​the capital, and met him at the entrance of the building.

The PSOL candidate was with his wife, Natalia Szermeta, who also works in the party and in the MTST (Homeless Workers Movement).

The Boulos-Marta alliance is inspired by the arrangement that led then-historical opponent Geraldo Alckmin (PSB) to be Lula’s vice-president in the 2022 election, in a strategy to signal pacification and build the image of a broad front that would defeat then-president Jair Bolsonaro. (PL).

The lunch was scheduled to bring Marta and Boulos together, who have been on opposite sides in recent years. After joining the MDB, in 2015, she voted for the impeachment of Dilma Rousseff (PT). In 2020, no longer affiliated with a party, she supported Bruno Covas (PSDB), who defeated the psolista in the second round in the capital.

A symbol of Lula’s and the left’s pragmatism in the election in São Paulo, the Boulos-Marta ticket is seen as a trump card to prevent the victory of an ally of Bolsonaro — the former president is considered by Nunes to support his re-election. Marta, at the time in the PT, administered the city between 2001 and 2004.

Federal deputy Rui Falcão (SP) was also invited to this Saturday’s lunch, who is a former president of the PT, maintains dialogue with the former mayor and was tasked by Lula to help with the sewing.

The affiliation is expected to take place in the coming weeks, with a celebration that should include Lula himself. Despite being in São Paulo since this Friday (12), the president was not expected to participate in the lunch at Marta’s house.

Marta left the Nunes administration, where she was municipal secretary of International Relations, last Tuesday (9), one day after she met with the PT member at Palácio do Planalto and accepted the invitation to return to the party in which she debuted in political life and served for 33 years.

The mayor’s allies try to brand the former assistant as a traitor and publicly minimize the loss, despite the discomfort.

Under internal resistance to repatriation, the PT is moving towards welcoming the former mayor back to its party, under the argument that she will strengthen the ticket with the PSOL. Her time at city hall is praised by legacies such as the CEUs and the Bilhete Único, but it also accumulated wear and tear.

It is the first time that the PT has given up its own candidacy in the capital. According to the agreement with PSOL, the nomination of vice will be up to PT members. Lula is committed to Boulos’ campaign, held a federal government event in the city with his ally and determined a concentrated effort to boost it.

The idea of ​​inviting Marta to return to the party and be vice-president was revealed by Sheet in November.

The former mayor, despite having distanced herself from the PT and criticizing members such as Fernando Haddad —who she even called the worst mayor in the history of São Paulo—, never broke with Lula.

It was in her apartment that, in 2021, one of the first meetings took place in which the possibility of Alckmin being Lula’s vice-president was raised. The place has been the scene of a series of political meetings in recent years. There Simone Tebet (MDB) ended her support for the PT member in the second round of 2022.

After this Saturday’s commitment, Boulos is scheduled to travel to China and France, continuing the international pre-campaign agenda. Throughout 2023, he visited metropolises in different countries to learn about projects and experiences that could be replicated in São Paulo.