If Bolsonaro is not a candidate, we have Michelle, at the launch of Bolsonaro’s candidacy for re-election in Maracanãzinho, she spoke and revealed herself,” said Valdemar Costa Neto, president of the Liberal Party (PL), the political formation that hosts Jair Bolsonaro – and Michelle Bolsonaro The former first lady, in an interview with the party leader on CNN Brasil, was officially elevated to “presidential” status, nearly four years away from being eligible to vote in 2026.
Judging by the first steps of Valdemar, the powerful leader of a party he led even when he was in prison, convicted in the scandal of corruption of “Mensalão” deputies, yes. Michelle, 40 years old, will provisionally assume the presidency of PL Mulher, a position in which she will receive 40,000 reais gross, about 7,200 euros, and a room at the party headquarters in Brasília.
In the election for the presidencies of the two chambers of the National Congress, the first major event of Brazil’s political return, she, who arrived from Florida, where Bolsonaro has remained since the eve of Lula da Silva’s inauguration, the star of the launch of Rogério’s candidacy Marinho, also from the PL, for the leadership of the Senate. And there, in the same place that had been vandalized three weeks earlier by enraged supporters of her husband during the invasion of the headquarters of the three government departments, she followed the vote by which her ally would ultimately be defeated by the Lula-backed candidate.
But other than having commanded “Pátria Voluntária”, a program created by her during her husband’s reign and destroyed by Lula on the day of his inauguration, Michelle has no political experience. That is why PL plans media training and technical support in the field of politics and economics. Valdemar and other PL leaders want Michelle, a staunch evangelical, to reduce religious discourse and appeal to different sectors of society.
Especially since before the party boss only deputy Sóstenes Cavalcante, leader of the evangelical group in the Chamber of Deputies, had named Michelle as a presidential candidate. “[os governadores estaduais] Tarcísio de Freitas, Romeu Zema, Jorginho Mello, Ronaldo Caiado and Michelle Bolsonaro herself, who has become very charismatic, can fulfill the role of Bolsonaro,” he told the newspaper. Folha de S. Paulo.
Does the idea of Valdemar and Sóstenes have legs? Social scientist Matheus Pichonelli, columnist for the UOL portal, does not rule it out. “Sounds unthinkable? Well, until 2017, her husband’s candidacy was also…”
Juliano Spyer, creator of the “Evangelical Observatory”, questioned in the newspaper Folha de S. Paulo, if the news around her was only “a bait to divert public attention from the tragedy of the Yanomami and what happened on January 8 in Brasilia?”. But experts said maybe not.
For the political scientist (and evangelical) Miguel Souza, “running for president means negotiating an arc of complex alliances, but if presented right, it’s a viable name.” In Latin America we already had Evita Perón. She can take that space – of the woman who continues her husband’s work – in the imagination of far-right voters.”
Pentecostal theologian Regina Fernandes argues that Michelle’s move to Planalto would require a risky change of attitude. So far she has presented herself as a good woman, with her head down, and that has helped her to be admired and get evangelical votes for her husband, but if she presents herself as the ‘head’ , even from her husband, this will cause estrangement among evangelicals.” For Regina, Bolsonaro himself could “boycott the project if he sees Michelle getting more attention than him”.
column in the newspaper The globe signed by journalist Bela Megale, in fact reveals “jealousy” of the former president. “The launch of Michelle’s candidacy for president angered Bolsonaro, who sent a message to Valdemar through party leaders,” the reporter writes. Bolsonaro is reported to have said, also according to the column, that he felt “discredited” because he is usually consulted “before any invitation or request is made to his wife”.
Behind the scenes, however, Bolsonaro’s former ministers are making it clear that they prefer Michelle to enter public life in her husband’s place, not least because there is an assessment that it is difficult for him to remain eligible,” the text underlined.
Bolsonaro faces 16 lawsuits in the Superior Electoral Court for abuse of economic, political and media power. A draft found in a search of the home of former Justice Minister Anderson Torres declaring a “state of siege” aimed at changing the outcome of the election won by Lula is aggravating Bolsonaro’s judicial situation. “Valdemar has demanded that Bolsonaro return from the US to deal with the extremists chosen by the party, but he, with a target of justice on his back, did not come – she did,” recalled Pichonelli.
And with Bolsonaro out of the media game, it was Michelle herself, in the middle of the Senate, who was responsible for responding to the possibility of her husband being arrested. “He’s not the one who needs to be afraid of being arrested,” he said to the applause of supporters.
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Source: DN
