Chamber chooses Lira’s sponsor for a vacancy at TCU; nomination goes to the Senate – 02/02/2023 – Power

The deputies elected this Thursday (2) the doctor Jhonatan de Jesus (Republicanos-RR) to occupy the vacancy of new minister of the TCU (Tribunal de Contas da União), as part of the agreement made by the re-elected president Arthur Lira (PP- AL) still during negotiations for his first election, in 2021.

Jhonatan, 39, was elected with 239 votes. In second place was former deputy Fábio Ramalho (MDB-MG), with 174. His candidacy was launched by Patriota. In third, with 75 votes, was deputy Soraya Santos (PL-RJ).

Jhonatan’s name will still have to be endorsed by senators. The House will send a draft legislative decree to the Senate, which will submit it to the senators. If chancelled, Jhonatan will replace minister Ana Arraes, who left office on July 22 last year.

Graduated in medicine, Jhonatan is in his fourth term as deputy. In a speech before the vote in the Chamber, he stated that he will be an ally of the National Congress within the TCU, and said that the control body cannot be used to criminalize the policy.

“They gave ammunition to [o TCU] used to criminalize politics, that’s what we intend to fight”, said the deputy.

“The TCU does not exist to punish. Its role is to assist the Brazilian parliament. It is to guide, above all, so that the process can be within the requirements of the law”, the parliamentarian also stated.

Jhonatan’s nomination was part of an agreement made by Lira with the president of the Republicans, Marcos Pereira (SP), even when the deputy from Alagoas was seeking his first election as head of the Chamber.

The deputy’s vote was the first called by Lira as re-elected mayor.

The deputy’s candidacy had a series of obstacles, with resistance within the TCU and among Jhonatan’s colleagues. Behind the scenes, there was discomfort because Lira would also have promised the nomination to Deputy Soraya Santos and Deputy Hugo Leal (PSD-RJ). Leal ended up leaving the dispute, contemplated with the general rapporteur of the 2022 Budget and after taking over the Secretariat of Oil, Gas and Energy of Rio de Janeiro.

With no votes, Lira postponed the election to TCU. The president of the Chamber even sent a call to leaders for the vote to take place at the end of August 2022, but gave up and decided to hold the election only this year, after the elections for president and after the choice of the board of directors, on Wednesday. fair (1st).

In articulating his reappointment, Lira directed efforts to get Jhonatan elected. The parliamentarian participated in meetings held by the president of the Chamber with state benches and asked for a vote for his candidacy.

Jhonatan was signaled that the leaders of the MDB, PSD, PSB, PV, PCdoB, Solidariedade, Podemos, PSDB, União Brasil, PDT, Cidadania, Avante, PTB and PP would support his name for the TCU.

Despite this, Lira had to untie knots that could jeopardize the vote. Alas from União Brasil and PV threatened to launch names to run for secretaries of the board of directors, facing agreements that had been signed by the president of the Chamber with the parties.

With that, PT, which had waved massive support from its bench to Jhonatan’s candidacy, threatened not to deliver the necessary votes to approve the new minister. The PT’s nod seeks to bring the Republicans closer to the government.

In the Chamber, Jhonatan was involved in controversies. The deputy spent BRL 70,361.85 from the electoral fund at a gas station that belongs to his sisters. He denied irregularities in the payments, which were declared in his rendering of accounts and approved by the TRE-RR (Regional Electoral Court of Roraima).

One of the points that weighed against the deputy is the long period he will stay at TCU: 36 years —retirement in court also occurs at 75 years old.