Milk Command in the PSDB causes discomfort among toucans in SP – 02/16/2023 – Politics

The rise of the governor of Rio Grande do Sul, Eduardo Leite, to the presidency of the PSDB brought concern to leaders of the acronym in São Paulo, who represent an internal opposition to the gaucho. The fear that there will be interference or retaliation by the party’s national command in the state led mayors to react behind the scenes with the threat of disbandment.

As shown to Sheetthe shrinkage of the PSDB in São Paulo, which lost control of the Palácio dos Bandeirantes machine, already provokes a dispute between the other parties to join the mass of Toucan mayors in the state – around 40% of the total.

According to the main PSDB mayors interviewed by the report, however, what can deplete the party in São Paulo, more than electoral weariness, are disagreements with the direction of the party in Leite’s hands. The gaucho group says that there is no intention of creating friction.

In the presidential primaries of the PSDB, which caused a major split in the party between Leite’s and João Doria’s allies, the Tucano mayors Luiz Fernando Machado (Jundiaí), Orlando Morando (São Bernardo do Campo) and Duarte Nogueira (Ribeirão Preto) joined the line at the head of the campaign of the then governor of São Paulo, as well as the president of the PSDB-SP, Marco Vinholi.

Now that Doria is out of the party and that Leite has taken over the national executive on a provisional basis —he should be definitively elected to the position in November, when there will be a national convention—, the toucans from São Paulo claim that they will not accept interference in São Paulo or actions that reduce their power in the national chess.

Toucans claim that the embarrassment of the São Paulo group, the disrespect for internal democracy or an instability in the PSDB would be reasons to leave the party in a coordinated way. For now, there is a vote of confidence in the new executive.

Some members of the acronym in São Paulo say that Leite can act with his liver, but that it would be elegant for him to seek a composition – and remember that weakening the PSDB-SP can be bad for his presidential claim.

Machado, for example, was probed by MDB and PL. Asked by Sheethe said he was happy within PSDB, “but Mario Covas’ PSDB, the root PSDB” and criticizes the possibility that “the party’s identity becomes a personalism”.

The permanence of former governor Rodrigo Garcia in the acronym also raises doubts, but toucans claim that he denied any intention of migrating from the party after the electoral defeat. Rodrigo maintains ties with his former legend, the DEM, today União Brasil.

This Wednesday (15), in a sign of approximation, Leite met with half of São Paulo’s state deputies. State deputy Carla Morando, Orlando Morando’s wife, did not attend.

Leite was accompanied by Vinholi and other Toucan politicians from the state — some of whom were already his allies.

Despite Leite’s surroundings denying any divisive intention, the alert among the toucans of São Paulo came from the first decision of the governor as president of the PSDB, to postpone the municipal, state and national conventions, extending the mandate of the current leaders.

The measure, taken on the 3rd, caught toucans by surprise on the eve of already planned municipal conventions.

“I repudiate the sad and disappointing attitude taken by the provisional commission of the national PSDB to cancel the municipal conventions scheduled for tomorrow. A real blow to the party’s democracy, since the edicts are published, the conventions scheduled and the affiliates mobilized”, tweeted Morando.

He also said that the party “loses its democratic spirit” and leaves “signs of wanting to have an owner”. “I emphasize here that the owners of the PSDB will always be its militants”, he added.

Questioned by the report about the migration of PSDB mayors, Morando said he did not see any movement to leave. “I have no reason to leave. I will remain,” he declared.

According to the national executive, the postponement will give the party time to debate theses and flags of the acronym before electing new leaders.

As a result, Vinholi, an ally of Doria, will remain at the head of the São Paulo PSDB for a longer period of time, until October. But the mayors speculate whether the postponement may give rise to some intervention in the directory or the emergence of some internal competitor for the re-election of Vinholi.

Another point that generated friction was the composition of the new national executive, which does not have a representative from that wing of the São Paulo PSDB who worked for Doria. The only person from São Paulo is the mayor of Santo André (SP), Paulo Serra, who holds the position of treasurer and was at Leite’s side in the previews.

Toucans from São Paulo still complain about the choice of Paulo Abi-Ackel (MG) for the post of general secretary, as the deputy is close to Aécio Neves (MG), another opponent of the São Paulo group. For local party leaders, Aécio’s indirect presence undermines Leite’s legitimacy.

Leite’s ally, Paulo Serra says that the idea of ​​extending the mandates of the leaders is so that the party has more time to think collectively and that there will be no ruptures.

“The PSDB has already shrunk a lot in size, it is not possible to divide it even more. This new provisional executive comes to add, we are not excluding anyone. Whoever is willing to collaborate will be welcome”, he said.

As shown to Sheettoucans admit that there should be a natural migration of PSDB mayors to other parties, which have more advertising time, greater electoral fund and closer to the Tarcísio de Freitas government (Republicans), on which they depend for sending funds to their cities.

In 2020, PSDB was way ahead of the others by electing 172 mayors in the state. Even so, in the last two years, the party carried out an offensive to incorporate more representatives, reaching 238 last December, according to data from the Regional Electoral Court that consider 623 of the 645 cities in the state.

At least 50 mayors were affiliated in 2021, in the wake of the primaries, in a movement contested by the Leite team on the suspicion that the affiliations took place after the deadline just to expand the electoral college of Doria.

“What happened, happened”, says Serra regarding these affiliations.

He claims the party now has to build a vaccine to stop mayors from leaving. “With the arrival of Eduardo [Leite]there is a perspective of hope, the PSDB will have new airs, it will return to generating propositional and programmatic content”, he completes.