Nunes downplays Bolsonaro’s statement that it is ‘too early’ to engage in his campaign

São Paulo mayor and reelection candidate Ricardo Nunes (MDB) downplayed former President Jair Bolsonaro’s (PL) statement that it is still “too early” to engage “massively” in his campaign. Nunes reaffirmed Bolsonaro’s support for his name and said that there will be a “right moment” to intensify the former president’s participation.

“He [Bolsonaro] is with us. There will be a right time to intensify [a atuação dele na campanha]. He was in Minas [quando deu a declaração sobre não estar no momento certo de se engajar]. Then people ask him [sobre a minha campanha] when he is in Paraná, in Mato Grosso. He is running all over Brazil”, said Nunes in an interview with the UOL portal and the newspaper S.Paulo Newspaper.

Yesterday, Bolsonaro said that he is not the one who explicitly supports the mayor and that it is still too early to get massively involved in the PMDB candidate’s campaign. “I may have to wait a little longer,” said the former president after a campaign rally in Belo Horizonte (MG) last Thursday, the 5th.

The statement contradicts what Tarcísio de Freitas (Republicans) said earlier that day. The governor insisted that Bolsonaro would join the campaign for the reelection of the mayor of São Paulo, with whom he is at least formally allied; the vice on Nunes’s ticket, Colonel Mello Araújo (PL), was nominated by the former president.

According to the governor, the details would be defined after the September 7 holiday. However, Bolsonaro has been reluctant to support Nunes more explicitly and has not yet recorded for the mayor’s election schedule, as expected.

When asked about the insistence on having Bolsonaro involved in his campaign, despite the former president’s resistance, Nunes said that journalists are more concerned about this than he is. “I’m the one who’s going to be on the leaflet. I’m the number 15,” said the mayor, adding that Bolsonaro represents “super important” support for his candidacy.

The mayor confirmed his presence at the September 7 event, which he again classified as a demonstration in defense of the Democratic Rule of Law.

Regarding the impeachment request of Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes, an issue that should be addressed during the event, Nunes stated that it is up to the Senate to make this assessment. The MDB member, however, classified the report by the S.Paulo Newspaper which showed that the minister’s office unofficially gave orders for the production of reports by the Superior Electoral Court (TSE).