The war for the Senate in 2026 has already begun – 09/28/2024 – Bruno Boghossian

José Dirceu made a sharp turn. In 2018, the former minister stated that the left needed a majority in Congress to implement a “radical program”. Years later, he launched a more realistic diagnosis and said that Lula had formed “a center-right government” upon returning to power. Now, he sees the need to go further.

Dirceu says that the left must be prepared to support right-wing candidates for the Senate in the 2026 elections. In an interview with Mônica Bergamo, the former PT minister said that it will be necessary to follow this path in some states to “avoid there being an extreme majority right” in the next legislature. “We are worried,” he acknowledged.

Since losing the election, Bolsonarism has practically only thought about occupying the Senate. In government or opposition, a majority in the House is always valuable. A powerful tractor is capable of approving the most delusional proposals of a President of the Republic or making life hell for his opponents. For this group, the main objective is different.

The radical right’s priority is to have enough seats to elect a Senate president willing to impeach STF ministers. It would be the beginning of revenge against the court or, at the very least, a form of pressure on the court. If they remain in opposition, the Bolsonarists would seek a free-from-prison letter. If they return to government, they would try to tie the hands of the Supreme Court.

Part of the left believes that the way to avoid this coup is to isolate the extreme right. The idea is to help elect senators from right-wing parties who are willing to contest the election without aligning themselves with Bolsonarism. The plan makes sense, but it needs to be combined with these acronyms, who tend to lick their chops when they join the former president’s troupe.

The war for the Senate will not be an ancillary dispute in 2026. The election of parliamentarians will be an important variable in this prolonged cycle of risks to democracy. The left will need more humility if it wants to put up a convincing broad front, while the non-Bolsonarist right will have to decide whether to mortgage its support, once again, to the bullshit of the radicals.

LINK PRESENT: Did you like this text? Subscribers can access seven free accesses from any link per day. Just click the blue F below.