President went to Bahia, Pernambuco and Ceará; he will return to the region next Friday (26th January), when he goes to Paraíba
The president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (PT) returned on Friday (January 19, 2024) from the 1st round of national trips this year. He went to Bahia, Pernambuco and Ceará, repeating destinations he had already chosen in the 1st quarter of 2023. In these places, he inaugurated works and announced new projects.
The difference now is that 2024 is the year of municipal elections. In November, Lula said he would dedicate himself to traveling around the country to visit works in progress – a bet, according to him, to create jobs and increase income.
The objective of the tour through the Northeast is to increase the number of city halls controlled by the PT in this year's election. In 2020, the Workers' Party elected 90 mayors in the region. In 2023, considering the party changes after the first year of the Lula government, the acronym counts 135 mayors in these specific states.
If the PT member does what he said, he will have to focus less on international travel. In 2023, Lula spent 62 days outside Brazil.
LULA ON TOUR
The stay in the Northeast last week was short. Lula traveled to Salvador (BA) on Thursday (18 January) morning. There, she participated in the signing ceremony of the partnership agreement for the implementation of the Bahia Aerospace Technology Park.
On the same day, in the afternoon, he embarked for Recife (PE), where he spoke to 250 employees of the Abreu e Lima refinery, took photos with the workers and participated in the ceremony to resume work at the site.
Wearing an orange Petrobras uniform – which was common during the 1st and, especially, the 2nd term of the PT member, after the discovery of the Pre-Salt –, Lula said that the state-owned company is recovering its “identity as a company of all Brazilians”.
Lula with Petrobras workers at the Abreu e Lima refinery
The president went to Fortaleza on Friday (January 19), where he signed the decree creating the ITA (Aeronautical Technological Institute) Advanced Campus in Fortaleza and participated in the laying of the cornerstone. He also met with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi.
He returned to Brasília on Friday night. Next week, he will return to the Northeast again: he will go to Paraíba, where he will deliver Minha Casa, Minha Vida units.
PT IN BRAZIL
In 2016 and 2020, the number of mayors elected by the PT reduced drastically compared to previous elections. The decrease coincided with the impeachment of the former president Dilma Rousseff (PT), which undermined the party's popularity in several parts of the country.
By way of comparison, in 2012, the year of Dilma's first term, the PT elected the largest number of mayors in a municipal election: 638. In 2016, the number fell to 254 and rose to 183 in the 2020 elections.
At the end of 2023, less than a year before the election, the party had 227 mayors, as 45 politicians – all from the Northeast – migrated to the party.
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