Maintenance of Brazão’s prison affects dispute in the Chamber – 04/10/2024 – Power

The decision of the Chamber plenary to maintain the arrest of deputy Chiquinho Brazão (no party-RJ) weakens Arthur Lira (PP-AL), strengthens the STF (Supreme Federal Court) and further embarrasses the dispute over the succession of the House command, scheduled for the beginning of 2025.

Some of Lira’s main allies led the efforts to overturn the arrest on the grounds that the Supreme Court’s decision to arrest the person accused of ordering the murder of councilor Marielle Franco violates the prerogatives of parliamentarians and sets a dangerous precedent.

Critics of the arrest order given by STF minister Alexandre de Moraes and endorsed by the 1st Panel of the court stated that the decision disrespects the Constitution, which allows the arrest of parliamentarians in office only in the act and for a non-bailable crime.

The leader of União Brasil, Elmar Nascimento, was the main coordinator in this regard in order to impose a defeat on the STF and publicly declared that he would vote against the arrest, on Tuesday (9).

Other names close to the president, such as the president of Avante, Luís Tibé, did not participate in the vote this Wednesday (10) to try to prevent them from having the 257 votes necessary to revoke the detention.

At a certain point in the day, faced with pressure from deputies to tear down the prison, even the government feared being defeated and seeing Brazão released. Members of the government base predicted a tight margin of a maximum of 10 votes to maintain the detention.

In the end, however, there were 277 votes to maintain Moraes’ decision, 20 more than necessary. The result was interpreted as a sign that Lira and her main allies do not have the same strength as they did in the past.

“There was a movement to empty the vote, but it didn’t work. Despite all the moves made by the extreme right and the centrão, democracy and the STF’s decision prevailed, because it is anchored in legality”, said deputy Erika Hilton (PSOL-SP), leader of the party in the House.

At the same time, the result was an indication that, despite criticism of the STF, the willingness to impose defeats on the court remains strong on the bench of former president Jair Bolsonaro (PL), but does not have the same resonance in the center, which usually be responsible for the balance of votes in the Chamber.

Despite this, parliamentarians consider that the social commotion involved in the murder of the councilor also had an impact and that the deputies did not vote only with the idea of ​​giving or not a message to the Supreme Court and also weighed the burden of releasing Brazão.

The deputies’ bet is that the score indicated that the dispute for Lira’s succession is more open than ever. Elmar, considered the President of the House’s favorite to replace him in office, for example, was weakened, in the opinion of parliamentarians. This stance also generated friction with the government — which announced that it would advise in favor of maintaining the prison.

On Tuesday, Nascimento told interlocutors that it was necessary to have “courage” to defend the deputies and that if he was not able to defend the parliamentarians’ prerogative, he would not be able to one day be elected president of the House.

He also stated that he was not afraid that his stance against maintaining the prison could harm his candidacy. To interlocutors, he recalled that Lira himself was one of the few parliamentarians who voted against the impeachment of former president of the House Eduardo Cunha and, even so, was re-elected as president with a historic vote.

Deputy Antônio Brito (PSD-BA), who is also a candidate for president, in turn, saw his party emerge victorious by voting overwhelmingly for the prison, as did the MDB, which has deputy Isnaldo Bulhões (MDB-AL) as candidate for the succession of Lira. Marcos Pereira (Republicanos-SP), another name mentioned in the dispute, did not vote.