Remember when presidents decided to run for re-election – 02/02/2023 – Politics

Since redemocratization, four former presidents have disputed re-election in their mandates. Only Jair Bolsonaro (PL) lost the race in his attempt last year.

Current president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (PT), who is in his third term in office, ran for reappointment in 2006. In the political arena, it is already speculated whether he will try for a fourth term in 2026, a hypothesis that he rejected during the electoral campaign of the last year.

Now, in an interview with RedeTV!, the president has changed his tone and said that he may be a candidate if there is a “delicate situation” in the country. The matter had already come to the fore when the Minister of the Civil House, Rui Costa, defended, the day after taking office, the PT candidate in 2026.

Remember how each Brazilian president dealt with re-election in their campaigns and mandates:

Jair Bolsonaro

The last former President of the Republic said, already in his 2018 election campaign, that he was not in favor of reappointment to the Planalto, promising, if elected, to propose a political reform that would end re-election to the Executive, and reduce the number of parliamentarians .

Despite the campaign promise, Bolsonaro announced to supporters, during a motorcycle race in Ceilândia, DF, that he would launch his pre-candidacy at an event the following day.

On the occasion, which had an atmosphere of an anticipated rally, the former Chief Executive gave a speech in the guise of a candidate for re-election.

Even during the campaign for a second term, Bolsonaro said he would not oppose the end of maintaining his mandate for another four years, if Congress so decided.

“Obviously, if part of Parliament accepts a proposal like this, we understand that [um mandato de] 5 years without re-election would be very welcome. Some even talk about reducing the size of the Chamber”, said the then president.

Asked about a possible contradiction in his political behavior compared to four years ago, Bolsonaro justified it by saying he is the only right-wing candidate in Brazil with election power.

“What made me change my mind was the opposite frame to run for my election. We didn’t have a name, a profile similar to mine. We would be handing Brazil over to the PT, the PDT or the PSB. It would be the turn of the left” , he declared.

Dilma Rousseff

The first woman elected president of the Republic did not openly declare that she was against re-election or did not want to run for it, but she faced resistance with a movement within the PT calling for Lula’s return to the head of the Executive in 2014.

On February 19, 2013, the then president of the party, Rui Falcão, announced President Dilma Rousseff as a candidate for re-election in 2014.

“I worry about the PT candidate, President Dilma. She is our name. [A candidatura] will be ratified in due course, in the party meeting called for this purpose”, said Rui Falcão.

The following day, in an act celebrating the 33 years of the PT and the party’s ten years at the helm of the federal government, Dilma praised her predecessor.

Lula

The petista positioned himself against the PEC (proposed amendment to the Constitution) for re-election, voted and approved in February 1997, and promised, in the 2002 campaign, not to seek a second term at the head of the Planalto.

“We don’t want re-election. We just want four years to create the foundations so that the youth can build on top”, Lula spoke to 4,000 people at a rally in Vitória.

As early as 2003, the then president did not say whether he wanted eight years in charge of the country, nor did he indicate that re-election was out of his plans. Asked about 2006, Lula said: “No, no”. But, right after that, he tried to correct himself: “You see, I’m not going to say that I’m not [candidato]”.

In January 2006, in an interview with Fantástico, on TV Globo, Lula said that he would only define whether or not he would be a candidate for re-election “in the middle of the year” and that he was in no hurry to decide. “My opponents are in a hurry”, she declared at the time.

He continued to avoid making any statement about a possible candidacy until June 24, 2006, during a PT convention in Brasília, when he announced his candidacy for re-election. His runner-up would once again be José Alencar, from the PRB.

In October 2007 at the Planalto Palace, Lula rejected seeking a new re-election in 2010, which would require a change in legislation.

“I was against re-election until the law lasted, and I was obliged to be a candidate for re-election because the political situation demanded that I be the candidate”, said the then president.

Lula also said that he could run for a third term in 2014, but did not run, opening space for a new Dilma government. At the time, he also stated that he would support the amendment that would end re-election, as long as the term was extended to five or six years.

FHC

The toucan, president at the time of approval of the re-election PEC, was one of the enthusiasts of the initiative for theoretical reasons, believing that the possibility of remaining in office generated more incentives for efficient political action.

He then spearheaded the approval of the constitutional amendment, and tried, successfully, to keep the post in 1998 — his opponent was Lula. Fernando Henrique surfed on the success of the Real Plan, which at the time was able to control inflationary indices.

However, a report published by Sheet revealed that deputies Ronivon Santiago and João Maia, from the PFL, had traded their votes for R$200,000. The opposition asked for the opening of a CPI to investigate the case.

Several names, however, mobilized to stop the investigation in the case, such as Michel Temer (MDB), at the time president of the Chamber. The parliamentarian prevented the CPI from going ahead.

In addition, Santiago and Maia, the two deputies who sparked the whole scandal, were expelled from the PFL and resigned from their mandates.

Nine days later, FHC appointed Eliseu Padilha and Iris Rezende, both from the MDB, as Ministers of Transport and Justice, which was evaluated as a strategy for distributing positions in exchange for support.

In 2020, however, the toucan made a mea-culpa, and said that the institution of re-election in Brazil was a mistake.

“I must admit that historically it has been a mistake: if four years are insufficient and six seems a long time, instead of asking the electorate to cast a ‘plebiscitary’ vote in the fourth year, it would be preferable to have a five-year term and that’s it. end,” he said in an article published in the newspapers O Estado de S. Paulo and O Globo.