The president Lula (PT) rehearses a motto for his re-election campaign at a time of difficulties in his relationship with the National Congress. He suffered two important defeats in the Legislature in the last week. One of them, the rejection of your nominee to the STF (Federal Supreme Court), unheard of since the end of the 19th century.
The PT member instructed assistants to find a new menu of proposals that could be presented as axes for a fourth term. In Lula’s assessment, the resumption of social programs and other economic measures adopted in recent years failed to boost your popularity.
A preview of what his campaign speech could be was seen on speech on national TV in reference to May 1st. In the video, Lula criticized the “system”, defended the reduction of weekly working hours and the end of the six-day work schedule for one day of rest – mentioning that the project is now with Congress – and announced the new Desenrola, a reissue of the debt regularization program.
He also spoke out against sports betting companies (known as bets), appealed to women and the religious public and defended his government’s measures to contain the rise in fuel prices caused by the war in the Middle East. Furthermore, he spoke about defending the country’s sovereignty and wealth.
The PT member suffered political defeats both on the day the program aired and the day before.
On Thursday (30), Congress overturned his veto on the Dosimetry PLproject that reduces the former president’s sentences Jair Bolsonaro (PL) and others convicted in the coup plot process. The day before, the Senate rejected the nomination of Jorge Messias to the STF, which also made one of Lula’s most important alliances more difficult.
The president wants the senator Rodrigo Pacheco (PSB-MG) be your candidate for governor in Minas Gerais, the second state with the most voters in the country. In addition to the fact that Pacheco has so far not confirmed his candidacy, Lula sectors suspect that he has worked against Messias and lost the will to support him.
During the campaign, Lula will not fail to highlight the social area, since the trajectories of both the party and the president himself are closely identified with these actions. The diagnosis, however, is that new flags will be needed for the re-election campaign.
The president and his allies had already been testing some topics, but both the government program and the central line that will be adopted in the campaign are still in the drafting phase.
In recent weeks, Lula has shown signs that he will seek to recycle his speech defending national sovereignty, with the aim of exploring the presidential candidate’s alignment Flavio Bolsonaro (PL) with the United States. The idea is to benefit from the negative image that donald trump is in Brazil.
The PT member’s best moment of popularity in the current term was in the second half of last year, when he used this speech as a response to the tariff imposed by the USA on Brazilian products.
In the 2022 campaign, one of the main lines of Lula’s speech was the resumption of social programs after what would have been a dismantling of the Bolsonaro government.
In his current term, the PT member consolidated Bolsa Família by R$600 and created a additional R$150 per child up to six years of age of beneficiary families. He also instituted Pé-de-Meia, which pays R$200 a month to poor high school students to reduce school dropoutamong other actions in the social area.
Even with the increase in spending in this area, Lula was unable to boost his popularity. Polls indicate that he and his main opponent are tied in voting intentions for the second round.
PT members also considered the popularity dividends produced by the entry into force of the Income Tax exemption for those earning up to R$5,000 per month to be frustrating.
So far, Lula has given more space to flags that were already used in the last campaign or during this third term. One of them involves comparing works under his administration with those during Bolsonaro’s mandate.
On another front, it has serial statements condemning violence against womenin an effort to regain ground in the female electorate, which was decisive for his election in 2022.
The PT member also intends to implement the end of the 6×1 scale. Lula wants the project approved by Congress before the election. The reduction in working hours could become a hallmark of the PT member’s management.
The government would like to have regulated work through applications, but was unable to reach an agreement with the companies, drivers and motorcyclists involved, and the idea, for now, has been shelved.
In one of the issues with the potential to be central to this year’s election, public security, Lula has defended the approval of a PEC (proposed amendment to the Constitution) that reorganizes the powers of federative entities. The project, however, has been under debate for more than a year.
The president conditions the approval of this project on the creation of a Ministry of Public Security — a promise of his campaign in 2022.
One possibility highlighted by allies is that Lula’s government program will focus on technological development. The PT prepared a document with proposed guidelines. Coordinator of these discussions within the party, Cristiano Silveira told Sheet that the objective would be to reduce Brazil’s dependence on technologies from abroad.
Lula appointed former Petrobras president José Sergio Gabrielli to take care of preparing his program – mixing ideas from the PT and other allied political forces. He is part of the pre-campaign hard core along with names such as the president of the PT, Edinho Silva, and the former mayor of Diadema (SP) José de Filippi Jr.
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