Moro’s impeachment shuffles electoral chess in Paraná – 02/03/2024 – Power

The hypothesis of a new election in 2024 for a seat in Paraná in the Senate, in the event of an eventual impeachment of Sergio Moro (União Brasil), is already mobilizing politicians and shuffling the dispute for the Mayor of Curitiba, scheduled for October.

The former judge of Operation Lava Jato is the target of a judicial electoral investigation led by the PT and the PL and, if convicted, he could lose his mandate, which would lead to the call for a supplementary election in Paraná to define a replacement.

But the judgment of the case by the state TRE (Regional Electoral Court) does not yet have a date to take place and any decision by the regional court would still be analyzed by the TSE (Superior Electoral Court), on appeal.

Despite this, parties are already working together behind the scenes for both the virtual election to the Senate and the municipal dispute in the capital of Paraná. Some names flirt with both vacancies. This is the case of former federal deputy Paulo Martins (PL), who in 2022 came in second place in the Senate race.

With the support of then president Jair Bolsonaro (PL) and the governor of Paraná Ratinho Junior (PSD), he received 29.1% of the votes, against 33.5% for Moro, and surpassed better-known names in Paraná politics, such as Alvaro Dias (Podemos), who came in third place and failed to win re-election.

Martins emerged from that election as a strong name on the right in Curitiba and has presented himself as a pre-candidate for mayor. This week, he was appointed special advisor to Ratinho Junior, with whom he is friends.

If Moro loses his mandate, however, Martins would also be the PL’s natural name for the Senate seat. The name of Michelle Bolsonaro (PL) has also been floated by allies of the former president in Paraná, but the former first lady herself has not given any signs so far that she could change her electoral domicile to seek the seat currently held by the former judge.

In the PT, there is more than one name for both the possible election to the Senate and to the mayor’s office. The federal deputy and national president of the PT, Gleisi Hoffmann, appears as a possibility for the election out of season, as well as the federal deputy Zeca Dirceu, leader of the party in the Chamber of Deputies.

Zeca Dirceu is also flirting with the vacancy for mayor of Curitiba, alongside other names from the PT, such as federal deputy Carol Dartora, but the party may give up on its own candidacy and approve an alliance with the PSB, with federal deputy Luciano Ducci on the head of the plate.

State deputy Requião Filho (PT) says it is likely that the party will approve the union with the PSB for the municipal election, which he criticizes, claiming that it is a national imposition. He has already been considered for mayor, but, dissatisfied within the party, he says he no longer intends to make his name available.

Requião Filho still recognizes interest in the Senate seat, in the event of Moro’s impeachment, but declares that he did not find support for the acronym. “The party made it clear that the PT has an owner and that I would not have room to compete for the position,” he says.

Politicians affiliated with the PSD, MDB and PP are also already in the pre-campaign for the supplementary election to the Senate, while their parties are sewing for the city hall.

Since the middle of last year, licensed federal deputy Ricardo Barros (PP), secretary in the Ratinho Junior administration, has openly said he is a pre-candidate for Moro’s seat. Meanwhile, he articulates an alliance with Eduardo Pimentel, current vice-mayor of Curitiba and PSD pre-candidate for mayor in October.

Barros wants his daughter, state deputy Maria Victoria (PP), on Pimentel’s ticket, as a candidate for vice mayor. The PSD is the party of the current mayor, Rafael Greca, who is in his second term.

Other parties – such as Novo and União Brasil, which includes Moro – remain discreet in the debate on the possibility of an extra election to the Senate and publicly present names only for the Curitiba City Council.

The main leader of Novo in Paraná is the impeached federal deputy Deltan Dallagnol, former Lava Jato prosecutor and ally of the former judge. Deltan was considered ineligible by the TSE last year, but he has insisted on running for mayor.

The strategy is to register in the dispute and wait for a new analysis by the Electoral Court. Another plan studied by Novo is to launch the lawyer and businesswoman Fernanda Dallagnol, wife of the former prosecutor.

The most voted member of the Paraná bench in the Chamber in 2022, Deltan is considered a strong name by his opponents, and the couple’s entry into the 2024 elections would have the potential to change the alliance board.

In União Brasil, the name of the federal deputy for São Paulo Rosangela Moro, married to the former judge, appears behind the scenes as a possibility for the Senate, but allies believe that a new transfer of electoral domicile, now back to Paraná, could be an obstacle.

In Curitiba, state deputy Ney Leprevost has so far positioned himself as the party’s pre-candidate for mayor.