Braga Netto acts to be chosen by Bolsonaro in Rio – 07/03/2023 – Politics

Former Minister Walter Braga Netto moves to be chosen by former President Jair Bolsonaro as the PL candidate for the Prefecture of Rio de Janeiro in the 2024 election. The military was Bolsonaro’s vice in last year’s election campaign.

Previously resistant to leading an election campaign, the retired general is increasingly approaching Bolsonarist deputies who spur his campaign. The decision, however, should only be taken next year, based on the former president’s decision.

Braga Netto’s movement intensified after Bolsonaro vetoed Senator Flávio Bolsonaro’s (PL-RJ) candidacy. Last month, he participated in a meeting that brought together PL-RJ parliamentarians in Maricá and recorded a video in which he talks about transforming Rio de Janeiro.

“I want to bring you a message of optimism. Rio de Janeiro has a way. Rio de Janeiro is a wonderful city. We have to really transform it and go back to being this wonderful city”, he said.

Braga Netto was also scheduled by the PL-RJ to appear on the party’s TV program in the capital, aired a few weeks ago.

It was necessary to fit him into a competitive grid that also needed to include three senators (Flávio, Romário and Carlos Portinho), governor Cláudio Castro and deputies from the state’s largest group.

“We believe that it is necessary to guarantee security, infrastructure and well-maintained public spaces. Thus, we will be able to enjoy everything that the wonderful city has to offer”, says the former minister in the video.

Braga Netto’s movements have been more timid so as not to offend Bolsonaro. The theme, for example, was not even discussed in a recent meeting between the two and the president of the PL, Valdemar Costa Neto.

In March, when Flávio’s candidacy was still being discussed, the former president expressly vetoed the former minister’s name during a meeting with the PL-RJ bench. He assigned the retired general the mission of organizing the PL to expand the number of city halls in the country.

With the departure of Flávio from the dispute, Braga Netto was once again encouraged by Bolsonarist deputies. Deputy Alan Lopes (PL-RJ) is already trying to present himself as a pre-candidate for vice on the ex-minister’s ticket. Another quoted is the deputy Márcio Gualberto (PL-RJ).

The retired general, however, did not announce a pre-candidacy, as some deputies wanted. He has been moving politically and has told interlocutors that he will do his best to help the party.

Braga Netto still faces electoral actions alongside Bolsonaro in the TSE (Superior Electoral Court). But the fact that he was acquitted in the case of the ambassadorial meeting, in which the former president was declared ineligible, reassured allies that there is low risk of punishment for the retired general.

In addition to Bolsonaro’s support, defenders of Braga Netto’s candidacy point to his passage as a federal intervenor in the state’s public security as an asset for their campaign.

In the PL-RJ, deputy Eduardo Pazuello, Bolsonaro’s former Minister of Health, is appointed as another Bolsonarist option. There are, however, concerns regarding the attacks that it may suffer for its performance in the federal government.

Senator Carlos Portinho is also trying to present himself as a pre-candidate. With no opening in the PL-RJ, he considers joining Novo to enter the dispute.

Cláudio Castro, a supporter of the former president, defends the choice of his Health Secretary, Dr. Luizinho (PP), as the name to head his alliance’s candidacy. He wants Pazuello as deputy, in order to attract the Bolsonarist electorate.

The dispute should be polarized between the candidate supported by Bolsonaro and Mayor Eduardo Paes (PSD), who will seek re-election. If he wins, he will be elected to a fourth term and become the city’s longest-serving politician.

Paes plans a series of inaugurations of works starting at the end of this year and beginning of the next. The main one is a ring road in Campo Grande, the neighborhood where the former president had his best result in the last election.

He is still trying to attract Castro to his alliance. The mayor must count on the support of President Lula and the PT, which occupies three secretariats during his administration.

A wing of the PT, led by deputy Lindbergh Farias, defends the opening of a discussion in support of the PSOL candidacy. The party has Tarcísio Motta (PSOL) and Renata Souza (PSOL) as pre-candidates and defines the name for the dispute until the end of the year.