Gleisi defends PT’s support for Paes’ re-election in Rio and Lula’s minister for vice

PT’s national president, Gleisi Hoffmann, argued that the party should support the re-election of the current mayor of Rio de Janeiro, Eduardo Paes (PSD-RJ), in this year’s municipal elections. Despite not heading the ticket in the capital of Rio de Janeiro, the party should agree with Paes to nominate the vice-president in the dispute.

The PT leader considers that the election in Rio is a “priority” for the party, and occurs at the same time that one of the main opposition pre-candidates, federal deputy Alexandre Ramagem (PL-RJ), was targeted by the Federal Police in last week on suspicion of participating in an alleged illegal espionage scheme when he was director general of the Brazilian Intelligence Agency (Abin).

“In my assessment, for Paes to have the support of the PT in Rio in the municipal election, the party needs to nominate the vice president,” said Gleisi in an interview with the newspaper The globe published this Monday (29).

According to her, the vice position on Paes’ ticket should be occupied by minister Anielle Franco, who will join the PT next month, or by the government’s secretary of federative affairs, André Ceciliano.

Negotiations for Rio’s city hall, however, are still in doubt and there is no consensus within the party. The vice-president of the PT, federal deputy Washington Quaquá, has already declared that he could give up the position of vice-president and continue supporting Paes to try to re-elect Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (PT) in 2026.

Gleisi also stated that the election of an ally in Rio plays an important role in building the bases for 2026. In addition to the capital of Rio de Janeiro, the PT also gave up on heading a ticket for the mayor of São Paulo, in which it signed with Guilherme Boulos (PSOL) the nomination of Marta Suplicy (who will return to the PT in February) for vice – it will be the first time in history that the party does not launch a candidate in the city.

In Rio de Janeiro, the opposition sees an attempt at persecution by targeting Ramagem and federal deputy Carlos Jordy (PL-RJ), who intends to run for mayor of neighboring Niterói. He became the target of the Federal Police in the investigations into the alleged promoters of the acts of January 8, 2023.

This Monday (29), councilor Carlos Bolsonaro (Republicanos-RJ) was also the target of the PF in the same investigation targeting Ramagem, and it occurs at a time of negotiation for him to leave the party and become the local president of the PL – the same legend of former president Jair Bolsonaro (PL).