Eduardo Leite and Aécio Neves announce that they will not compete for command of the PSDB

Governor Eduardo Leite (RS) and federal deputy Aécio Neves (MG) confirmed, this weekend, that they should not contest the succession of the presidency of the PSDB, currently under the command of the gaucho.

Leite was elected president of the party at the end of last year with the mission of rebuilding the party after its poor performance in the 2022 elections, in which he saw participation, especially in Congress, dry up compared to previous terms.

The gaucho said, at the time, that he would be able to reconcile the position of governor of Rio Grande do Sul and the reconstruction of the party. But, after eight months at the head of the tucanato, he decided not to seek re-election.

“I understand that it is better for the party to have someone who can have more time to dedicate themselves. There are municipal elections, there are issues linked to candidacies… these are issues for which I am not available. I received the trust of millions of gauchos to govern the State. I cannot and will not leave the State unattended to the party issue, although it is important”, he said in an interview with the newspaper The state of Sao Paulo published this Saturday (21).

Eduardo Leite says that the PSDB lost space in Brazilian politics from the moment it stopped polarizing with the PT, after the rise of Jair Bolsonaro (PL). This, he says, generated “a certain schizophrenia, a certain confusion” in the tucanato, in which the party “didn’t know how to deal with this situation very well”.

He also mentioned that the PSDB was also heavily affected by the Lava Jato operation investigations in addition to the PT, mainly Aécio Neves who was acquitted. This involvement in the scandal also affected the party’s foundations.

Shortly after the publication of the interview, Aécio responded and said that he also has no interest in running for president of the party. And he said he hopes that Leite opens a debate to decide who can succeed him in command of the tucanos.

“The best thing would be for him [Leite] could continue leading the party. But I recognize your limitations, and if that is your decision, we have to respect it. He will certainly lead a broad internal debate to see who has the best profile to lead the party,” he told Newspaper.

Leite and Aécio indicated that the former governor of Mato Grosso do Sul, Reinaldo Azambuja, could be one of the names in the dispute for party command. The politician, however, was elected state president of the party this Saturday (21).

The Minas Gerais deputy also sees that Pernambuco governor Raquel Lyra could also be a candidate for the position – although she faces the same limitation as Leite, of sharing the government of a state with the party’s mandate.

The gaucho also suggested the former governor and former senator of Ceará, Tasso Jereissati, and the current governor of Mato Grosso do Sul, Eduardo Riedel.

In mid-August, the PSDB released a letter positioning itself against Lula’s government, making what it calls a “consequential opposition”, but which will analyze each proposal requested by the presidency. And he also stated that he will present “proposals in 2026 so that the Brazilian population has an alternative, without having to choose between the worst and the least worst”.

The PSDB came out smaller in the 2022 elections compared to past elections and recorded the worst performance in electoral results in its 34-year history. It did not elect any senators or governors in the first round and saw the federal and state benches shrink.

The poor performance in last year’s election made the PSDB more dependent on the federation it formed with Cidadania to comply with the barrier clause from the 2026 election onwards, which will be stricter. The parties together elected 18 federal deputies, 13 of whom were tucanos – a decrease of 19 parliamentarians compared to 2018.

Without new senators elected, the tucana bench in the Federal Senate also registered a drop, from six to four senators. Not even historical figures from the PSDB, such as the former governor of São Paulo José Serra, the former governor of Goiás, Marconi Perillo, and the former mayor of Manaus, Arthur Virgílio Neto, managed to be elected in 2022.