Lula’s platform in Minas Gerais still depends on agreement with PSD; double candidacy for the Senate is also on the table
Former mayor of Belo Horizonte Alexandre Kalil (PSD) is willing to offer his vice on his ticket to the government of Minas Gerais to have the PT in his coalition in this year’s elections. He met with the former president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva (PT), pre-candidate for the Presidency of the Republic, on Friday (13.May.2022), when the proposal was made. PSD president Gilberto Kassab also attended the meeting.
Despite the offer, the discussion about the possibility of having 2 candidates for the Senate still persists. The PT wants to launch deputy Reginaldo Lopes to the post. The PSD maintains Senator Alexandre Silveira’s pre-candidacy for reelection. The two parties are awaiting a decision from the TSE (Superior Electoral Court) on the possibility, but PT members understand that a 2010 resolution defined jurisprudence for the issue.
Some complicating factors for the alliance between PT and PSD in the state are still at stake. The 1st of them is that Kalil has already defined his deputy, the president of the Legislative Assembly of Minas, Agostinho Patrus. He left the PV and migrated to the PSD to join the plate. If compositing with PT works, the PSD will need to accommodate Patrus in another position.
The pure ticket proposed by Kalil, however, made it impossible to advance negotiations with the PT in the state. Since last week, PT members no longer counted on the possibility of an agreement being made locally. Therefore, the negotiation moved to the national sphere.
Now, consideration is being given to moving Lopes to the post of deputy to Kalil. Other PT names are also being considered and a definition should take a few weeks, according to party members interviewed by the Power 360.
Last week, Lula spent 3 days in Minas Gerais. He visited Belo Horizonte, Contagem and Juiz de Fora. Kalil did not appear in any public meeting with the PT.
This Monday (May 16, 2022), PT president Gleisi Hoffmann, published on his Twitter page that Lopes will be the coordinator of Lula’s campaign in Minas. The message was seen as a sign of appeasement in negotiations with the PSD. The new role also indicates that Lopes could give up the Senate as it would be too much work to lead Lula’s campaign and his own to a majority position.
“Important conversation today with Lula and with comrade Reginaldo Lopes, who will lead the construction of the Lula-Kalil platform and coordinate Lula and Alckmin’s campaign in the state. Together to win in Minas and Brazil”wrote.
Lopes is also pronounced on the social network about the role and said that “the dialogues with the PSD” are in progress.
“I received the mission from @LulaOficial to coordinate his campaign and from @geraldoalckmin in Minas. We continue the dialogues with the PSD and our allies in the project for the resumption of democracy and reconstruction of Brazil, which is only possible with Lula president”wrote.
The national PT is interested in trading on Minas Gerais soil because the state has 15.7 million voters. Only São Paulo is more important for the presidential election.
The hypothesis of an informal alliance between Lula and Kalil also has little appeal. Without PT and PSD allied in the State, Kalil would have less TV time and, consequently, less conditions to elect allied deputies.
Kassab, in turn, does not want to support either Lula or Jair Bolsonaro (PL) in the 1st round. His party has directories closer to PT and others closer to the president. Support for one of the main pre-candidates in the 1st round could split the legend. Part of the bench in the Chamber even defends support in Minas for Bolsonaro, Silveira and the state governor, Romeu Zema (Novo), who will seek reelection.
The formalization of the PT-PSD coalition is also a way to avoid the so-called “Luzema”, the vote for Lula and Zema, already identified in internal PT polls. The former governor is best known in the interior of the state and Kalil, more in the capital and metropolitan region.
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