The president of Brazil, Jair Bolsonaro, managed to approve this Wednesday in Parliament a comprehensive package of social measures less than three months before the elections, for which the clear favorite is former president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva.
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According to analysts, this is an attempt to improve the president’s popularity 81 days before the elections.
The Chamber of Deputies approved, in two votes and by qualified majority, a controversial amendment to the Constitution that allows the Bolsonaro government to distribute some 41.25 billion reais (today 7.65 billion dollars) in subsidies, on the eve of the elections.
To do this, the official base included in the proposal a declaration of a “state of emergency” until the end of the year, much discussed by the opposition and some jurists, under the argument of the “extraordinary and unpredictable” rise in fuel prices.
In practice, it is a maneuver by the parliamentary forces that support the far-right leader so as not to breach electoral legislation, which in normal circumstances prevents the promotion of this type of measure six months before the elections, which this year will be held on the 2nd of october.
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Among the approved benefits are raising the monthly aid already received by the poorest families in the country by 50%, up to 600 reais (110 dollars), creating aid to finance gas cylinders and the possibility of reducing taxes on hydrocarbons.
It also plans to distribute a subsidy for taxi drivers and another of 1,000 reais (185 dollars) for self-employed truckers, who are part of the social base of support for Bolsonaro.
The project is now ready for its entry into force, after the endorsement of the Senate on June 30.
The approval of the proposal was celebrated with applause and even “long live God” in an assembly of evangelical pastors held in the state of Maranhao, one of the poorest in the country, and attended by Bolsonaro, who may have won a football oxygen.
The head of state has been stagnant for months in the polls with a view to the elections on October 2, with a disadvantage of between 15 and 20 points over the leader of the Workers’ Party (PT), which governed Brazil between 2003 and 2010 and seeks return to power.
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The critics
Although it was supported by the vast majority of the full House, the project was criticized for its “electoralist” and “kamikaze” nature.
Lula’s PT voted in favor, although he asked Brazilians “not to be fooled” because the benefits will only be a reality until December 31, 2022.
In this sense, Reginaldo Lopes, a PT deputy, affirmed that the text is a “blank check” for the Bolsonaro government, while for Tiago Mitraud, of the Novo party (center-right), it is “an economic cannon” to “conquer votes “.
They also branded it a “kamikaze” given its potential impact on the country’s public accounts and inflation, which is currently close to 12% year-on-year. Under the “state of emergency”, the Government can, in addition, skip the rules of fiscal balance.
For his part, Giovani Cherini, of the Liberal Party (right), with which Bolsonaro will aspire to re-election, promised that in December they will develop “another social program” if they win the presidential elections and the country remains “in an emergency.”
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Doubts about the state of emergency
The declaration of a national “emergency” also raised suspicions among the opposition that the country will hold presidential, legislative and regional elections under that status.
“We are not sure how the Bolsonaro government is going to use the state of emergency,” which could “hurt the autonomy of the electoral process,” warned Lopes, from the PT.
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Other congressmen referred to the “emergency” as a “fake”, “liar” and “artificial” measure, whose sole purpose is “to circumvent the electoral legislation” in favor of the Government, and warned of the “dangerous precedent” that its approval supposes .
This mechanism was already used during the coronavirus pandemic and now the Government hides behind it in the face of the sharp rise in fuel prices, with the risk that the matter ends up in court.
Its sole purpose is to circumvent the electoral legislation
The Court of Auditors, the body that oversees the Brazilian State, has already opened a procedure to evaluate the battery of social measures.
Likewise, opposition deputies also resorted to the Supreme Court to try to suspend the processing of the text, but in all cases their demands were rejected.
*With information from Efe
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