Lula tries to elect Pacheco and bar Bolsonarism in the Senate – 01/31/2023 – Politics

The National Congress elects its new command this Wednesday (1st), with different scenarios in the House and Senate.

Arthur Lira (PP-AL) has broad support to win another two years of office at the head of the Chamber. In the Senate, the government of Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (PT) mobilizes ministers and other means to try to re-elect Rodrigo Pacheco (PSD-MG) and avoid the emergence of a Bolsonarist enclave at the center of power in the legislative house.

The election in the two Houses will start in the afternoon, shortly after the inauguration of the 513 federal deputies and 27 senators – the other 54 Senate seats were not up for debate in October.

The Senate is the place where there will be more dispute. With Lula’s support, Pacheco is seeking re-election against Rogério Marinho (PL-RN), former minister of Jair Bolsonaro (PL) and candidate of his radical support base.

The government’s mobilization in favor of Pacheco contradicts Lula’s assertions that he would not interfere in the dispute for the command of Congress and shows a re-edition of the October clash, in which the PT defeated Bolsonaro by a narrow margin of votes.

Pacheco has a more robust alliance bow. As the election is secret, Marinho bets on betrayals to surprise.

A victory for the PL senator would lead the Senate to be the clearest focus of opposition to Lula, as Arthur Lira has moved from Bolsonarism to the PT side since the result of the presidential elections.

This Tuesday (31), Marinho got the public support of former Minister Sergio Moro (União Brasil-PR), members of the PSDB and a dissidence within the PSD itself, Pacheco’s acronym.

Moro justified his decision by stating that he decided for “firm opposition” to the PT government and that the majority opinion of his voters is in favor of this position.

In addition to the former judge, Bolsonarist Alan Rick (União Brasil-AC), elected senator, announced that he will vote for Marinho.

The current president of the Senate, on the other hand, should count on the campaign of at least six of Lula’s ministers this Wednesday.

“I think the government is moving republicanly, in what can help. Brazil does not need, in the presidency of the Senate, an opposition leader, to keep the tension, the fight with other powers”, said Renan Filho (MDB-AL ), who was elected senator and is the current Minister of Transport.

In the PSD, the vote of senators in Marinho was already on Pacheco’s radar. The announcement was made this Tuesday by three members of the bench of 15 parliamentarians, including Samuel Araújo (PSD-RO), who moments before had attended a lunch at the home of Senator Weverton Rocha (PDT-MA) in support of Pacheco.

According to people who were at the meeting, Araújo said he would vote for his party colleague.

Another PSD member who announced a vote for Marinho was Lucas Barreto (PSD-AP) —political rival of Davi Alcolumbre (União-AP) and Randolfe Rodrigues (Rede-AP). The third adhesion to Marinho within the PSD came from Nelsinho Trad (MS).

Alcolumbre is Pacheco’s main constituency. President of the Senate until the beginning of 2021, he was responsible for making the senator of Minas his successor and intends to return to the position in 2025.

Eduardo Girão (Podemos-CE) is also a candidate for the presidency of the Senate, but does not have support even in his party. If none of them obtains a majority of votes, the dispute goes to the second round between the two best placed.

Pacheco’s allies say they expect a minimum of 46 of the 81 votes in dispute (he received 57 in the 2021 election). Marinho’s supporters claim that the betrayals will be enough for the opposition’s election.

Bolsonaro’s PL elected the largest group of deputies (99 out of 513). In the Senate, it would also gather the largest number (13 of the 81 seats), but migrations that occurred in recent days led Pacheco’s PSD to surpass that number (15).

The PT has also grown in the Chamber and Senate, but left-wing parties account for just a quarter of the seats in both Houses.

Center and right-wing parties are the majority in Congress that takes office this Wednesday, which led Lula to try to attract PSD, MDB and União Brasil with the allocation of nine ministries to these acronyms.

Even so, the petista will need support from the centrão (PP, PL and Republicans) to have a sufficient support base to approve amendments to the Constitution, which require the vote of at least 60% of parliamentarians.

In the Chamber, Arthur Lira and Lula got closer after the PT’s victory in the October elections.

While the PT gave up launching a competitor against the leader of the center, due to the fragility of the left, Lira paved the approach with the PT with the immediate public recognition of Lula’s victory. He also led the approval of the PEC that gave the new government budgetary breath and the reaction against the coup vandals of January 8th.

Until this Tuesday afternoon, only Chico Alencar (PSOL-RJ) and Marcel Van Hattem (Novo-RS) had placed themselves as competitors for the presidency of the Chamber, but the chances of both are negligible.

With that, Lira’s allies are working so that he has the record of votes in an election since redemocratization, a post occupied until now by Ibsen Pinheiro (PMDB-RS), in 1991; and João Paulo Cunha (PT-SP), in 2003 —both were elected with 434 votes in the first round.

Both in the Chamber and in the Senate, the last few days were marked by the division of the other command posts in the Legislative, in negotiations carried out by the candidates with the parties.

The PL, for example, was convinced by Lira to cede command of the CCJ (Constitution and Justice Commission) of the Chamber to the PT, with the commitment to command the collegiate in some of the next years.

The PL, with 99 deputies, and the PT (68) will be the two biggest forces in the legislature that begins. The Chamber’s rules on priority for choosing positions on the Board of Directors and thematic commissions take into account the size of the benches in the election, but these choices always involve political adjustments and are also subject to the election this Wednesday.

In addition to the presidency, the House and Senate will each choose two vice presidents, four secretaries and four alternates.