Rodrigo Pacheco, candidate of the centrist PSD backed by the government of Lula da Silva, was re-elected president of the Federal Senate until 2025 with 49 votes. Rogério Marinho, from the PL, Jair Bolsonaro’s party, had only 32 members and lost the chance to lead a kind of Bolsonarian enclave in the upper house of the National Congress. The electoral conflict, which in recent days has revived the climate of polarization in the country and mobilized social networks, was dubbed the “third round” of October’s presidential election in Brasília.
“There was an attempt to rework that climate,” Rodrigo Pacheco said at a post-win press conference. “But we want peace, not a peace that silences coups, a peace that seeks cooperation, fights for the truth and abandons the discourse of us against them, that requires the poisonous polarization from our country, events like the one here at this National Congress on January 8, 2023, cannot and will not be repeated, democracy still stands.”
Bolsonaro got directly involved in the campaign by asking Marinho, his regional development minister, to vote in a live phone call reproduced by his wife, Michelle Bolsonaro, at a celebration event. The Lula government has also committed to the election by allowing four ministers, who are senators, to vote for one day before returning to the executive after suffrage.
In addition to the political strength of the position, affecting the budget vote and other matters dear to the administration, the Senate presidency influences the judiciary – for example, it falls to Pacheco to request the impeachment of federal Supreme Court justices, one of the favored targets of Bolsonarianism.
In the Chamber of Deputies, Arthur Lira was re-elected, as expected, with a record number of votes since the 1985 redemocratization of 464 votes out of a total of 513.
Backed by the government, which did not risk launching a left-wing candidacy, likely defeated, Lira, who was Bolsonaro’s ally, is thus one of the most powerful politicians in Brazil, with a say in the agenda and the consequent approval or rejection. , one of the most decisive voices in Lula’s program.
Reflecting the broad support, the Chamber’s board chaired by Lira will have Luliste and Bolsonarista parliamentarians.
Chico Alencar, of the left-wing PSOL, and Marcel van Hattem, of the liberal Novo, the only ones who dared to meet the announced winner, came in on 21 and 19 votes respectively in the elections.
RODRIGO PACHECO
PSD Minas Gerais
46 years
The re-elected president of the Senate, who has a reputation as a moderate, did not oppose Bolsonaro during the two years of his first term, but approached Lula in the presidential campaign, after the elections and especially after the January 8 attacks in Brazil. His victory, defeating Bolsonarist Rogério Marinho, was seen with relief in Planalto and earned an immediate “congratulations” call from Lula.
ARTHUR LIRA
PP Alagoas
53 years old
With 30 votes he beat the record for votes in the House in almost 40 years of redemocratization. Bolsonaro’s ally in the first term, he is the leader of the “centrão”, the group of about 200 parliamentarians who support the current government in exchange for positions and influence, which is why he has almost unbeatable power in the House. For this reason, the Lula government preferred to support him rather than launch a left-wing candidacy that was doomed to fail, winning a landslide victory.
Source: DN
