Lira loses power in the Chamber after series of political defeats

The mayor, Arthur Lira (PP-AL), experienced the first decline in his considerable power of influence in a short period of just one week. The failure to fulfill the promises made by Lira to deputies resulted in the formation of the largest party block in the Chamber, with 147 deputies, from the MDB, PSD, Podemos, Republicans and PSC parties.

The formation in the block, which took place on Tuesday (28), was also partly caused by a previous defeat. On Thursday (23), the President of Congress, Senator Rodrigo Pacheco (PSD-MG), forced the immediate installation of mixed commissions – made up of deputies and senators – to analyze provisional measures (MPs) edited by the Lula government. Lira was opposed, threatened to sabotage the commissions, but ended up giving in. His defeat ended a nearly two-month tug-of-war between the House and Senate. Lira wanted to maintain the express rite of procedure for MPs, adopted in the pandemic, which favored the Chamber.

Lira still holds the greatest political dominance ever obtained by a mayor, built with his re-election on February 1st. At the time, he received 464 of the 513 votes in the plenary and support from 20 parties, with opposition restricted to the extremes PSOL and Novo.

But, he failed to share the promised extra spaces of power to internal supporters, in the form of more positions in the Chamber itself or appointments in the government machine, in addition to more funds from the Federal Budget. For this reason, he had to watch the unexpected creation of a majority party bloc in the Chamber, formed by MDB, PSD, Podemos, Republicans and PSC, which will be located outside his direct control.

On social media, Lira congratulated the leaders of the parties that make up the new block. “I have always defended unity so that we can reduce the number of parties, strengthening them and giving society confidence in our party system”, he published along with a photo taken on Wednesday (29) with the deputies leading the subtitles Hugo Motta (Republicans -PB), Isnaldo Bulhões (MDB-AL), Antonio Brito (PSD-BA) and Fábio Macedo (Podemos-MA), the latter elected to lead the block. His intention was to show that he did not feel at all threatened of losing relevance after the novelty.

The grouping of legends is detached from the so-called block, forged in the articulation to re-elect Lira to the Presidency of the House. The leader Fábio Macedo, who also leads Podemos and the PSC, is linked to the Minister of Justice, Flávio Dino (PSB). He will autonomously negotiate agendas from President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (PT). His deputy is PSD leader Antonio Brito.

The change also reflects the desire of chiefs Baleia Rossi (MDB-SP) and Gilberto Kassab (PSD-SP) to take off their acronyms from Centrão. They were joined by deputy Marcos Pereira (SP), president of the Republicans, first secretary of the Chamber and, curiously, Lira’s ally. MDB, PSD, and Republicans have 42 deputies each; Podemos has 12, and PSC (in the process of merging with Podemos) has four. MDB and PSD are formally part of the government team.

In his first term as a federal deputy, Macedo is one of the few people from Maranhão who stands out in the Chamber, precisely because of his achievements in conducting articulations with the government and the opposition. “I had the honor of being elected leader of the largest block in the Chamber, made up of major parties, whose leaders reached consensus around my name. With humility and firmness, I assume the commitment with the social and economic values ​​of this group of parliamentarians and I hope that we all work with unity and strength”, he told the People’s Gazettewithout wanting to anticipate any positions in future polls.

The expressly pro-government base of the Chamber is made up of the left-wing federation PT-PCdoB-PV (81 deputies), PDT (17), PSB (14), PSOL-Rede (14), Avante (seven) and Solidarity (five), totaling 138 deputies. If the new bloc acts favorably to the government, Lula could, in theory, reach 280 votes, enough to approve projects. With that, the question alerted by Lira himself would be resolved, that the government “does not have votes to approve even a simple matter” in the House.

The consensus behind the scenes is that Lira is no longer the only guarantor of governance, although he continues to be responsible for defining the agenda of the Chamber and being a key factor in the approval, for example, of amendments to the Constitution in his biennium.

But, after the creation of the new block, there are rumors that Lira wasted no time and has already started negotiations with leaders of other legends, even outside Centrão, to react and create another block, which may be even bigger than the new one. grouping.

Long arm wrestling with Pacheco caused wear and tear

The formation of the new block is also a reflection of Lira’s clash with Pacheco. The conversation between them was stalled in the face of the rigidity of the president of the Chamber, who still wants to end the parity of the committees for the analysis of the provisional measures and establish the proportion of three deputies for each senator, which has the complete rejection of the Senate. Pacheco doesn’t want to know about the change, which would change the rules in force for two decades. Even so, he promises to submit Lira’s proposal to the Senate Leaders College.

“All MPs will be sent to the mixed commissions, without any condition. We evaluated the reasonable consideration of the Chamber to modify the deadline for appreciation in these collegiate bodies”, said Pacheco at a press conference on Tuesday (28). He was referring to a change that limits the time that the commissions have to analyze but provisional measures, to streamline the whole process.

But he insisted on saying that it was “very difficult” to see Lira’s second consideration advance, about the proportional composition of the commissions.

Worried about the loss of validity of his MPs, if they are not voted on, Lula spoke with Lira and Pacheco to try to mediate an understanding. The president of the Chamber took advantage of the war climate to send a message to Planalto: the deputies do not have the representativeness that the senators have in the government. The agreement so far is that Lula expects the approval in time of three sensitive provisional measures, such as the Bolsa Família and the one that defines the organizational chart of the Esplanada dos Ministérios, exchanging the rest for bills on an urgent basis.

“It is not fair that Congress is immobilized by an issue that could be treated as it always has, with a broad, democratic debate and obedient to the regimental and constitutional rites”, protested Eduardo Braga (AM), leader of the MDB in the Senate and ally of Renan Calheiros (MDB-AL), Lira’s rival at the state level.

Majority bloc changes the relationship between the Chamber and the government

Analysts interviewed by People’s Gazette assess that the party rearrangement in the Chamber only reflects the adjustments resulting from clearer definitions of the new centers of power. For them, after the change of command in the country – from right to left –, the renewal of Congress and Lira’s onslaught in search of additional spaces, the political center works to rearrange relations between the Legislative and Executive.

“Lula has always been the main actor in the political composition of his governments and it is natural that the physiological core of Parliament adapts to survive the context and establishes models of governance”, explains Arnaldo Galvão, professor of Public Policy and Institutional Relations at Ibmec-DF . He believes that Lira “bet too high, playing all the chips to obtain the highest possible gain”. “By testing the limits of his own influence, the president of the Chamber had his weight updated in the game”, he summarized.

For the expert, Lira and the Chamber may be closer to the institutional contours that will fit them in the current PT administration in the country. The advance of the Legislative over areas of the Executive involved proposals for the adoption of a semi-presidential regime and authorization for parliamentarians to be appointed ambassadors. “Lira was shooting everywhere, day after day, to see how far he could go,” he recalled.

The strategist of one of the parties in the new bloc, who requested anonymity, recognizes that the ideal for Lira would be for the majority bloc to be whatever his party is. Not by chance, he made an effort to confirm the alliance or federation between the PP and União Brasil by March, frustrated due to regional impasses. Together, the parties would add up to 108 deputies, surpassing the then other benches.

The observer sees the emergence of Lira’s indirectly rival bloc as a risk to the mayor’s plan to appoint a successor. And the challenger that begins to appear on the horizon is his co-religionist Aguinaldo Ribeiro (PP-PB), rapporteur for the tax reform project. He was Minister of Cities in the Dilma Rousseff (PT) government and leader of the Michel Temer (MDB) government in the Chamber.

For him, Lira promised more than he could deliver to get re-elected, the invoice is being collected. And as it takes longer to meet demands, the intramural reaction begins. The objective now is to seek space in the nominations for MP commissions.

Although all analysts agree that Lira was weakened by the emergence of the new bloc, some disagree that the arrangement will place his captions closer to Lula. For these, internal movements only reflect the dispute for power within the Chamber itself, without necessarily generating benefit or harm to the government.

In addition, the dispute within the plenary sessions is surpassing the importance of the relationship between the Legislative and Executive, mainly due to the omission of the Executive, which is not managing to establish the legislative agenda. Analysts also point out that the articulation of the base finds it difficult to retain even parliamentarians who are traditionally closer to Lula. With that, the number one mission of government leaders in the Chamber, Senate and Congress, and of the Minister of Institutional Relations, Alexandre Padilha – which is to create a solid government base – is not yet concluded.