PT in São Paulo is emptied and stumbles in renovation – 02/11/2023 – Politics

Founded in São Paulo 43 years ago, the PT is going through an emptying in its cradle, with the perspective of being left without its own candidate in the election for mayor of the capital for the first time in four decades, amidst the lame pace of renewal of cadres and the advance of PSOL in the left field.

The legend, officially created on February 10, 1980 during a meeting at Colégio Sion, in the central region of São Paulo, today sees its core of power move to Brasília, with the beginning of the mandate of President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (PT), and tries to circumvent weaknesses in the land of origin.

The state presidency of the acronym is changing, with the departure of Luiz Marinho to become Minister of Labor. He took office in 2017 and contested the next three elections, which one wing saw as detrimental to the progress of the party machine. Marinho was elected federal deputy in 2022.

The most likely candidate to replace him is Kiko Celeguim, a first-term federal deputy. With a political career made in Franco da Rocha —where his father, Mário Maurici, was mayor—, the 38-year-old parliamentarian is cited as one of the newcomers on the rise in the party, many of whom still have low projection.

The vacuum of names with the capacity to obtain votes, added to the wear and tear of historic members and the departure of others, helps explain the unprecedented decision not to launch a candidate for the São Paulo City Hall race to support the candidacy of federal deputy Guilherme Boulos (PSOL).

Closed by Lula and the PT national command, the agreement was part of the seam to unify the left around Fernando Haddad (PT) in the gubernatorial campaign. Boulos, who gave up running in exchange for support in 2024, is now required to strengthen relations with the PT to consolidate the alliance.

Party leaders interviewed by Sheet they say the agreement will be honored, but they do not rule out pressure from the base for the PT to play a leading role in the dispute. A ventilated hypothesis is to make previews to choose the name that should be presented to PSOL to close the composition, probably in the vice vacancy.

In the party, which has governed the city three times, there is a fear that the absence of a majority candidate will make it difficult to elect PT councilors.

An influential member, with privileged access to Lula, says that the party is “totally unstructured” in the state, which is reflected in the drop in the number of mayors. The risk is, in the words of this interlocutor, becoming the PT of Rio de Janeiro — a reference to the acronym’s loss of muscle in the neighboring state.

Complaints fall mainly on those occupying decision-making positions, either because of the “castling” of part of them in the functions, which favors perpetuation and inhibits oxygenation, or because of the vacillating command.

A party ally in the last elections reports having been impressed by what he calls the inconsistency of the PT’s leading core in the state and claims that this spilled over into Haddad’s campaign. The criticism goes along the lines that the party became “oligarchized” and ended up being swallowed up by bureaucratization.

The damage caused by Operation Lava Jato to the reputation of the acronym and the latent anti-PTism in the interior over the last decade overthrew the capillarity of the acronym in the state. The expressive votes by Governor Tarcísio de Freitas (Republicans) and former President Jair Bolsonaro (PL) demonstrated this.

The PT, which elected 70 mayors in the state in 2012, fell to 8 in 2016 and only 4 in 2020 (Araraquara, Diadema, Matão and Mauá). The bench of state deputies managed to grow in 2022, reaching 18 seats, compared to 10 in the previous election. That of feds went from 8 to 11.

Several factors are mentioned as justification for the positive turn last year, such as the partial recovery of the party’s image in the eyes of the electorate and the impetus given by Lula’s candidacy in a highly polarized battle with Bolsonaro, which influenced the entire election.

The profile of the elected benches, however, is emblematic of the moment the party is experiencing. The biggest vote for state (807 thousand votes) was that of veteran Eduardo Suplicy. Another nine were re-elected and, of the 18 deputies, 5 are women — among them Thainara Faria, appointed as a promise of the party.

Among the feds, the general trend of men, white, over 50 years old and with ascendancy in the party structure is repeated. The only woman is Juliana Cardoso, whose victory was also celebrated for being indigenous, which would signal a connection with the young electorate and the identity flags.

The fiasco of candidacies focused on diversity and inclusion was credited to PSOL’s progress in this field. One group understands that the success of Boulos, with more than 1 million votes for federal deputy, overshadowed PT members who had social issues as their motto, such as racial and LGBTQIA+ issues.

Spokespersons for the party admit the mishaps, but claim that the general context is favorable to reinvigorating the acronym, especially if the federal government is well evaluated. Lula and Haddad overcame Bolsonarist opponents in the capital, but lost in the rest of the state.

“In my view, the PT is getting stronger in São Paulo”, says Suplicy, who leaves the seat of councilor in the capital in March to take over as state deputy. “With the fact that we now have Lula and so many ministers, I think we have everything to renew and see new values ​​appearing.”

Party president in the capital, Laércio Ribeiro minimizes the impact of the departure of names like Haddad, Marinho, Alexandre Padilha and Jilmar Tatto to Brasília, on the grounds that it is in the interest of party leaders to maintain bridges in the state even though they have functions in government or Congress .

“The space of all of them is the state, and they will conciliate the works because they would not be who they are without São Paulo”, he says.

The PT’s municipal directory was even the target of an eviction action from its headquarters, in September last year, due to rent debts. According to Ribeiro, the amounts were paid, and the place is still open. The state directory handed over the old headquarters and now works together with the national one.

For political scientist Maria do Socorro Braga, the internal fragmentation of the party in the state contributes to wear and tear, with many of the conflicts being arbitrated by the national command and by Lula himself.

“It is impossible to hide that the party has been weakening, with a reduction in the ability to elect mayors and councilors, although it remains hegemonic on the left. There was a distancing from the social bases and now the challenge is to resume links with civil society”, says the UFSCar professor.

The disorganization of the party at the state level, completes the researcher, can also be attributed to the disarticulation of the group that was with Lula in 2003 and helped to establish the petismo in São Paulo —with names like José Dirceu and Antonio Palocci, who were swallowed up by scandals and they walked away.

PT numbers in Sao Paulo

• 4 mayors were elected in the state in 2020 (Araraquara, Diadema, Matão and Mauá); in 2016, there were 8
• 135 councilors were elected in the state in 2020; in 2016, there were 197
• 18 state deputies were elected in 2022; in 2018, there were 10
• 11 federal deputies were elected in 2022; in 2018, there were 8
• 44.7% was the percentage of votes obtained in the state by Lula in the second round against Bolsonaro (55.2%); in the capital, the PT candidate had 53.5%, and the PL, 46.4%
• 44.7% was the percentage of votes obtained in the state by Fernando Haddad in the second round against Tarcísio de Freitas (55.2%); in the capital, the PT candidate had 54.4%, and the Republicans, 45.4%
• two there were times that the PT reached the second round in the gubernatorial election, with Haddad in 2022 and José Genoino in 2002 —neither of them victorious
• 3 were the times the PT was elected to govern the capital of São Paulo (with Luiza Erundina, in 1988, Marta Suplicy, in 2000, and Haddad, in 2012)
• 16.7% of the votes was the total obtained by Haddad in the attempt to be re-elected as mayor, in 2016, when he was defeated in the first round by the then toucan João Doria (53.2%)
• 8.6% was the percentage of votes obtained by the PT candidate for Mayor of São Paulo in 2020, Jilmar Tatto, who finished in 6th place, the worst result of the party in the city in history; Guilherme Boulos (PSOL) got 20.2% and went to the second round, but lost to Bruno Covas (PSDB)