President says he will not comment on Lira’s nomination to succeed him in the Chamber; leader of União Brasil joins rival group to Rui Costa
The President’s Decision Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva not expressing an opinion in the election for the presidency of the Chamber should help preserve the PT’s influence in Bahia, where the party maintains a certain dominance.
Lula’s gesture paved the way for the current president of the Lower House, Arthur Lira (PP-AL), indicate the deputy Elmar Birth (União Brasil-BA). The leader of União Brasil is from the rival political group of Rui CostaMinister of the Civil House, so that the signal from Planalto seeks to curb a future offensive by the next president of the Chamber, especially in the PT’s electoral stronghold.
The 2024 municipal elections in Bahia are important for the PT to gauge the support for the party in the state, with an eye on 2026.
From 2002 to 2018, the PT won 4 state elections in the 1st round. Twice with Jacques Wagner and two others with Rui Costa. Already in 2022, the victory of Jerome Rodrigues came in the 2nd round, with 52.79% of the valid votes.
THE Poder360 found that some mayors are dissatisfied with the current PT government, both because their demands were not heard last year and because of the prospect of a smaller transfer of amendments.
Given this scenario, the former minister Jose Dirceu has been going to Bahia to work on strengthening the party in this year’s municipal elections. The party’s hegemony in smaller cities remains solid, but the party’s leaders expect it not to give up ground to União Brasil, which intends to win 70% to 80% of cities with more than 100,000 inhabitants.
Therefore, Lula’s “endorsement” of Elmar by publicly telling party leaders that he would not veto the name of Lira’s favorite for the succession in the Chamber, in a meeting at the Planalto Palace on Monday (August 26, 2024), could help to “pacify” the PT’s situation in the region.
The attempt at “pacification” between the two main political groups in Bahia was confirmed at Elmar Nascimento’s party on July 10th.
On that occasion, Rui Costa attended the event of his opponent, who was already campaigning behind the scenes to become the next Speaker of the House. The appearance is especially relevant because, one day before, the Minister of the Civil House did not attend the party organized by Antonio Brito (PSD-BA), also from Bahia and the main opponent of the leader of União Brasil in the succession of Lira.
The rapprochement with Elmar, therefore, is strategic for the government.
On the one hand, Lula understands that not getting involved in the election for the presidency of the Chamber in 2025 does not leave room for the same mistake to be made Dilma Rousseff 10 years ago, when he supported the PT member Arlindo Chinaglia (SP), defeated by Eduardo Cunha in 2015, which, 1 year later, opened impeachment proceedings against the then president.
On the other hand, Rui Costa’s political core opens space for dialogue with União Brasil, gaining more time to guarantee the maintenance of PT influence in the State.
In a way, the strategy resembles the one used to keep Lira as a “convenient ally of the Planalto”, which resulted in the progress of the government’s economic agendas, even though the deputy from Alagoas is an opponent of Senator Renan Calheiros, an ally of Lula, and having declared support for the former president’s reelection. Jair Bolsonaro (PL).
#Lulas #endorsement #Elmar #helps #Bahia #understand
