Kim Kataguiri is chosen in MBL voting to run for mayor of SP – 07/03/2023 – Politics

The MBL (Movimento Brasil Livre) announced this Monday (3) federal deputy Kim Kataguiri (União Brasil-SP) as the winner of the primaries to choose the candidate that the group wants to launch in the election for the Mayor of São Paulo in 2024. He got 56.1% of the votes.

The other competitor, state deputy Guto Zacarias (União Brasil-SP), won 43.8% of the votes.

Behind the scenes, the victory of Kataguiri, who has been one of the exponents of the movement since its creation in 2014, and is in his second term, was already expected. Zacarias debuted in the Legislative Assembly this year and is deputy leader of the Tarcísio de Freitas government (Republicans).

To applause, Kataguiri spoke critically of the city’s situation. “São Paulo needs someone who goes to the top [dos problemas]”, said the parliamentarian, who spoke of the need to elect a mayor with “moral fiber”, “someone with chest and political will”.

According to the MBL, 12 thousand people were able to participate in the primaries, an internal vote to decide who will be a candidate, along the lines of those made by traditional parties, such as PSDB and PT.

In total, there were 9,951 votes, from coordinators, militants, MBL Academy students (platform for paid courses) and supporters registered at the MBL Club (which gives access to exclusive content and events).

Voting, online, opened last Friday (30) and closed this Monday afternoon.

Zacarias said it was an honor to lose to his rival, of whom he is an admirer, and that he will act as Kataguiri’s pre-campaign communications coordinator.

To consolidate the candidacy, the movement will have to resolve the impasse with União Brasil, a party that today tends to support the re-election of Ricardo Nunes (MDB). The party leader in São Paulo, Milton Leite, is one of the main allies of the current mayor.

Leite has already said that the final word will be given at the municipal convention, next year. One wing of the MBL is betting on the thesis that by then the party will be able to review its position, especially if the movement’s representative appears well in the polls and if Nunes is having difficulty taking off.

Hence the decision to bring forward the definition of the name to 2023, with the intention of entering the dispute more strongly and working from now on a platform in the field of the right, trying to attract social and party segments. The objective is to reach 2024 with greater pressure power.

At first, the movement wants to avoid clashes with the direction of the caption and open space to mediate an exit. The MBL does not rule out, at the limit, participating in the vote at the convention that will define the party’s directions in the municipal race, but the idea is to try some agreed output first.

By law, deputies lose their elective mandate if they leave the party without just cause. The alternatives are to seek the right of disaffiliation in court, indicating persecution, for example, or to try to force an expulsion, which does not entail the loss of mandate.

The next task would be to find an acronym willing to launch the candidate. In parallel, the MBL is also working to found its own party, but the expectation is that it will only be able to participate in the electoral process in 2026. For now, the group collects signatures in support of the creation.

The movement participated in the 2020 election in the capital represented by the then state deputy Arthur do Val (Podemos-SP), who finished in fifth place, with 9.78% of the valid votes.

Mamãe Falei, as Do Val is known, is prevented from running again because he was ineligible for eight years after the revocation of his mandate in the Assembly in 2022. He fell from grace after sexist speeches related to Ukrainian women victims of war came to light.

As shown to Sheet in May, the movement discussed launching a candidate for the municipal election and considered Kataguiri the natural name for the mission. The deputy, however, had been defending the discussion of other names and pointed to Zacarias as one of the options.

As both expressed interest in the candidacy, the movement decided in June to make the choice through democratic means, giving members the power of choice. The collective’s assessment is that there is room in the São Paulo election for a name with a liberal, young and combative profile.

Today, in addition to Nunes, federal deputies Guilherme Boulos (PSOL) —backed by President Lula (PT)— and Tabata Amaral (PSB) and presenter José Luiz Datena (PDT) are pre-candidates.

As reported by the Panel, MBL leaders and Bolsonaristas in São Paulo who reject Nunes have started talking about the possibility of joining forces against the mayor in 2024.

This Monday, a meeting with representatives of the groups to address the issue was attended by Ricardo Salles (PL), a federal deputy who withdrew from the pre-candidacy for mayoralty after receiving negative signals from former president Jair Bolsonaro (PL), who flirts with Nunes.

The final score of the previews was released during a MBL congress at the municipal level, held at the Obelisk Mausoleum to the Heroes of 32, close to Ibirapuera Park (south zone). Before the announcement, the documentary “São Paulo Brasil”, produced by MBL about the Revolution of 1932, was shown.

The president of the MBL, Renan Santos, said that the movement wants to contribute, if Kataguiri is elected, to lead the opposition to the Lula government from São Paulo.

The internal vote, announced in the penultimate week of June, was preceded by activities for Kataguiri, 27, and Zacarias, 24, to talk about their platforms and listen to the population.

The two competitors participated in a sabbath on Avenida Paulista, in which they could be questioned by people passing by, and in a virtual debate, which had discussions on topics such as the Master Plan, cracolândia, education, mobility, relations with the federal government and security.

The two revealed similar opinions, but proposed different ways to solve the problems.