The Superior Electoral Court (TSE) has scheduled for Thursday the 22nd the verdict that Jair Bolsonaro should be ineligible for the next eight years, i.e. the 2026 and 2030 presidential elections, in addition to the municipal elections that will be contested during the period. and in this way determine the politics of Brazil by removing one of the protagonists from the scene. Because the legal battle is seen as a lost cause, the Liberal Party (PL), the formation to which Bolsonaro belongs, is considering using the former president as an amalgamator of votes around a successor. But which?
The action first: The seven members of the TSE will assess whether a meeting with ambassadors promoted by Bolsonaro in July 2022 with the aim of attacking without evidence the electronic voting system used in Brazil constitutes “abuse of political power” and “improper” . use of means of communication”, can be read in the claim that the PDT, party of then-candidate Ciro Gomes, has sent to the court.
Bolsonaro, then president, used the Alvorada Palace, the official residence of the republic’s presidency, government money and state television to “spread untruths and distortions and improperly influence the electorate,” according to the attorney general’s office.
Bolsonaro’s allies are betting on a postponement of the trial, with requests for the trial to be re-read and other delay files by Nunes Marques, the TSE judge closest to the former president, but the PL leadership no longer doubts the outcome. whether known in the coming days or in the coming months will be unfavorable.
“Jair Bolsonaro already knows he lost,” writes Thais Oyama, columnist for UOL and author of the book Tormenta, The Bolsonaro government: crises, intrigues and secrets. “In the immediate circle of the former president, including lawyers, no one is betting that the result of the TSE trial, scheduled for the 22nd, will be anything other than the decision on his ineligibility and Bolsonaro has been “prepared” for this outcome ever since. from the US,” he says. “Unlike what happened in the presidential election, when, convinced that he would win, the defeat plunged him into a depressed state, the former captain will not be surprised this time.”
Bolsonaro and the PL are therefore already planning the 2024 municipal elections under the motto of alleged “political persecution”. “The idea is that this scenario will transfer even more votes to those who support Bolsonaro in next year’s municipal elections. The PL’s intention is to increase the number of cities controlled by the party from 300 to 1,000,” wrote columnist Bela megale , by The globe.
And the party is also preparing for the 2026 presidential election without the ineligible Bolsonaro and perhaps also without Lula, who pledged during the campaign not to run for re-election. Therefore, the path of succession has already been taken by the PL, whose commercials on Brazilian television in recent weeks have made Michelle Bolsonaro, the former first lady and current president of PL Mulher, the protagonist.
Succession
Despite being involved in the case of Saudi jewels diverted from the presidential collection to his own home by her husband, Michelle remains a personal bet of PL president Valdemar da Costa Neto, who sees her electoral potential. more supported by her husband.
“If Bolsonaro is not a candidate, we have Michelle at launch [da candidatura de 2022] of Bolsonaro in Maracanãzinho, it has revealed itself, so if he is a candidate, he will be a very strong candidate, if he is not a candidate, he will be even stronger, because this right-wing movement is here to stay,” said Costa Neto before the jewelry box.
However, other names are lining up to fly the banner of “Bolsonarianism without Jair”. From the beginning, that of defeated Vice Presidential candidate Walter Braga Netto, a general who took over as Secretary of Institutional Relations from the PL, has established the party’s political observatory, a center for preparing opposition proposals to the Lula government , and is already traveling across the country to accompany Michelle. Seen as a relevant framework, Braga Netto can run for mayor of Rio de Janeiro next year to gain body for the 2026 presidential election.
On the political scene, Governors Tarcísio Freitas and Romeu Zema, of Republicans and Novo, parties in the orbit of the PL, are also natural “candidates for candidates”. The former won the government of São Paulo, the most populous and wealthiest in the country, defeating Fernando Haddad, now Lula’s finance minister, and is seen, with a technical and managerial profile, as the main exponent of the most palatable side of the bolsonarianism.
But he has against him the fact that he is in his first term, under pressure to seek re-election, unlike Zema, who is serving his second term, and is therefore free to take the national challenge in 2026.
16 more shares
However, Bolsonaro’s pessimism about his electoral future is not limited to action around meeting ambassadors to report fraud without evidence. He is the target of another 16 investigations at the TSE.
Including the electoral use of social programs during the election campaign, such as anticipating the transfer of Auxílio-Brasil and Auxílio-Gás benefits; increase in the number of families benefiting from the Auxílio-Brasil; advance payment of aid to truck drivers and taxi drivers: debt negotiation program with public banks, among others.
It also faces charges by the PT of using it to create an “ecosystem of disinformation” formed by Bolsonarist profiles based on Councilor Carlos Bolsonaro’s digital strategy, in addition to three actions over the electoral use of the September 7 parade. years , during the celebration of the bicentenary of independence, in the presence of President Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa.
Three other actions are investigating whether the former president committed abuses during official trips to Queen Elizabeth II’s funeral and to the UN. Three more actions are pending to challenge the use of the Alvorada Palace for the election campaign lives and events, a complaint about privileged treatment by right-wing broadcaster Jovem Pan during the election period and another alleging an alleged parallel campaign by businessmen, pastors and religious entities.
Source: DN
