Lula asks João Campos to speed up work in an election year – 04/05/2024 – Power

President Lula (PT) recommended that the mayor of Recife, João Campos (PSB), accelerate the delivery of works to open before the electoral period. By law, a mayor running for re-election has limitations on holding inaugurations during the election campaign.

Lula participated in Recife in the work order for 18 slope works on barriers on the outskirts of the city. The investment is around R$40 million via the Ministry of Cities. Work on the barriers is a demand from the city after the rains that left more than 120 people dead in May 2022.

Lula classified João Campos’ management as “excellent”. “I know this is an election year and I always say that if we planted, we watered, we will harvest. You can be sure of that. From a certain month onwards you can no longer inaugurate work, so everything you can inaugurate, inaugurate.”

The statement was yet another nod towards the mayor, who is an ally of Lula. The PT seeks to secure the nomination for João Campos’ vice-president, but is counting on resistance from the mayor, who prefers a name closer to his trust, as he could be a candidate for governor in 2026 against governor Raquel Lyra (PSDB).

By running for vice president, the PT seeks to place João Campos at a crossroads. If he resigns, the PT would take over Recife City Hall, which was already under PT leadership between 2001 and 2012. If João Campos chooses to serve his eight-year term, the PT members want the mayor’s support for a PT candidacy for governor.

During the event, Lula received from João Campos and an announcer the last microphone used by former governor Eduardo Campos in a speech. The president and the mayor’s father had a close relationship, despite being on opposite platforms in 2014. Victim of a plane crash, Eduardo died as a candidate for president in opposition to Dilma Rousseff (PT) who was running for re-election.

Also this Friday, Lula went to Iguatu (365 km from Fortaleza), where he flew over the works of the Transnordestina railway and signed the service order for the Apodi Branch, a work that will shorten the connection between the northern axis of the São Francisco river crossing and the Castanhão dam.

During the visit, a group of protesters made up of education professionals and students held a small protest. They erected posters demanding that the governor of Ceará, Elmano de Freitas (PT), improve the educational sector and hire teachers. Among the statements were requests for “respect the teacher” and a salary increase for the category.

The manifesto caught the attention of Lula, on stage, who defended the population’s right to demonstrate. “I saw some comrades with signs standing up, protesting. I think it’s wonderful that you can protest because there was a time when you couldn’t participate, nor raise a sign,” she said.

According to the state government’s press office, after the act, Elmano received part of the protesters and “committed to advancing the dialogue on the agendas presented.”

Also in a speech, Lula stated that he did not return to the Presidency to do the same and said that he wants to do more than in his first two governments, between 2003 and 2010. “I did not return to be President of the Republic to do the same thing as me. I had already done it. I need to do more, I need to do better, I need to take care of these people. And it’s not easy because I’m competing with myself”, he said.

At the end of the act, Lula called the person responsible for the railway concessionaire and a construction worker who had given a speech at the beginning of the ceremony to the front of the stage. Jokingly, she scolded the worker for greeting the first lady, Janja.

“Don’t you ever kiss my wife again, boy. Don’t you ever touch my wife again to kiss her because I get excited, I get nervous,” he said.