Porto Alegre Chamber makes January 8th Patriot Day – 08/25/2023 – Power

The City Council of Porto Alegre made January 8 the “Municipal Day of the Patriot”, according to the Calendar of Commemorative Dates and Awareness of the Municipality.

On this date, in 2023, a group of supporters of former President Jair Bolsonaro (PL) invaded and vandalized the headquarters of the three Powers, in Brasília.

The law was proposed on March 15 by then councilor Alexandre Bobadra (PL) and enacted by the President of the Legislative, Hamilton Sossmeier (PTB) on July 10.

Bobadra would lose his mandate exactly five months after proposing the law, when he lost an appeal to the TRE (Regional Electoral Court) of Rio Grande do Sul.

He was impeached for abuse of economic power for using alone 43% of the resources of the then PSL electoral fund, the party for which he ran and was elected in 2020. In the 2022 elections, Bobadra was involved in a fight with punches and chairs with the then councilor Leonel Radde (PT).

The proposal did not make it to the plenary. As is customary in PLL (Legislative Bills), used for tributes and other projects of little legislative relevance, the text was handled only by the committees. He would only go to plenary if the parliamentarians so requested the Board of Directors.

The text was passed by the Constitution and Justice Commission with a favorable opinion, was approved by three votes to zero in the Education, Culture, Sport and Youth Commission and received two favorable votes and two against in the Consumer Protection, Human Rights and Security Commission Urban.

The tie gave progress to the project, which is forwarded for analysis by the mayor and approved automatically if he does not manifest the sanction or veto within 15 days. Faced with the silence of Mayor Sebastião Melo (MDB), the enactment by the President of the Chamber is compulsory.

Asked about the reason for not having spoken out about the law, Melo released a note saying that either “sanctioning, vetoing or silencing” were “constitutional possibilities”. The mayor has strengthened ties with Bolsonarism since 2020 and is expected to run for re-election in 2024.

Melo also said that he opted for silence in relation to Bobadra’s proposal, just as he did for a similar project, in June, authored by councilor Aldaci Oliboni (PT) that makes January 8 “Day in Defense of Democracy”. The law authored by Oliboni has not yet been enacted.