09/10/2023 – 21:13
Federal deputy Kim Kataguiri (União Brasil-SP), one of those considered to run for Mayor of São Paulo next year, tries to oppose Ricardo Nunes (MDB), current mayor and a name that may have the support of Jair Bolsonaro (PL ). Despite the acronym of the leader of Movimento Brasil Livre (MBL) being on the Esplanada dos Ministérios, the deputy calls himself a right-wing candidate and rejects any possible support from the former president.
“(Nunes) is making a monumental effort to try to get votes from the right, even though he does not represent these values. We don’t need to be held hostage by a centrist candidacy,” Kataguiri told Estadão. At the beginning of June, he won the MBL caucuses with a tight score: he obtained 56.1% of the votes, leaving state deputy Guto Zacarias (União Brasil-SP) behind. The deputy defended that the acronym is “plural”, but his candidacy will be right-wing.
The MBL, a movement of which Kataguiri is the leader, broke with Bolsonarism in the first years of the last government, after campaigning for the former president. For months, Nunes and Bolsonaro have been meeting in São Paulo and the PL has been trying to attract the current mayor into an alliance. However, the relationship between the two was weakened after the emedebista said in a lecture “that he is not close” to either Bolsonaro or Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (PT). Datafolha research carried out in September, more than a year before the election, shows that Nunes is behind Guilherme Boulos (PSOL) in voting intentions. Kataguiri has 8%.
Asked about the possibility of receiving support from the former president, the deputy replied: “Bolsonaro already has a candidate. My focus is not on having a political godfather, it is on having the best plan for São Paulo.” In addition to Nunes, the PL is betting on the candidacy of former minister and now senator Marcos Pontes, who was presented by Valdemar Costa Neto as a pre-candidate at membership events in the interior of São Paulo.
Advancement in left-wing flags
At the end of September, Kim Kataguiri attended a União Brasil workshop on violence against women. Called “Lilac Defense”, the event seeks to teach parliamentarians and potential leaders about how to deal with gender-based violence. The deputy and Antonio de Rueda, vice-president of the party, were the only men to speak.
The event demonstrates an attempt by União Brasil to advance a typical left-wing agenda, which is the fight against violence against women. Among right-wing politicians, the approach to the issue is more incipient. Kataguiri denied that his visit to the event could signal a greater weight to identity issues in his campaign.
“The left makes it seem like we are enemies of all these groups, when, in reality, it is the opposite. Let’s talk about the abolition of slavery. The liberal movement ended slavery in the world. Despite the speeches, what is actually defended in the right-wing camp are fundamental individual rights and guarantees”, said the deputy.
Electorate division
In addition to Nunes, Boulos and Pontes, deputy Tabata Amaral (PSB) is considered for next year’s electoral dispute. A former pedestrian, she is also a young parliamentarian with good social media traffic. However, Kataguiri does not believe that they can compete for the same electorate.
“Her electorate is more linked to Boulos’ than to mine. Hers is more center-left and has a vision, especially on identity issues, that is very different from mine,” the deputy told Estadão.
Sabesp and Cracolândia
Kataguiri stated that he supports the privatization of the Basic Sanitation Company of the State of São Paulo (Sabesp), a topic under discussion in the capital. “If the state-owned company has the technical-financial capacity to carry out sanitation, it will remain state-owned, there is no problem. If it doesn’t have it, it will be privatized. This is the case with Sabesp,” he said.
He also defended the compulsory hospitalization of crack users and the strengthening of services provided by the municipality. “The City Hall’s entire psychosocial care network needs to be reviewed, reformulated and reinforced, because, for example, for a city of 11 million inhabitants, we only have 39 psychosocial beds for alcohol and drug treatment. I say this with confidence, because I needed the Municipality’s psychosocial care network for many years, because I have anxiety, insomnia and depression.”
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