RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – Brazil~s President Jair Bolsonaro, on Thursday, July 22, said that the Progressistas Party (center-right to right-wing), that of his about-to-be-appointed Chief of Staff, Ciro Nogueira, a Senator from Piauí in Brazil’s Northeast, may be the one for which he will run for reelection in 2022.
“Could it be a party to dispute the elections? It could be. At this moment I don’t have a party yet. It is not easy to reach an agreement with the party, because it is like a marriage,” he said during his weekly online stream.
Bolsonaro contemporized Nogueira’s 2017 statement, made on the eve of the presidential elections, in which he called Bolsonaro a fascist and declared support for Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, whom he referred to as “the best president in history.” The current Chief Executive implied that the legislator only took that position in search of political dividends.
“Yes, he did. Things change. I had positions in the past that I no longer have today, but none radical. And whoever is in the Northeast and was not for Lula in the past would not be successful in politics,” he justified.
At the time, Nogueira praised social income transfer programs, such as Bolsa Família (Family Grant), responsible for improving socioeconomic indicators in the Northeast, and the popular housing program Minha Casa Minha Vida (My Home My Life).
“Lula is the best president in the history of this country, mainly for Piauí and the Northeast. As much as I have to think about Brazil, I don’t see myself voting against Lula for everything he has done, for everyone he has taken out of poverty, for the fight against hunger,” he said. He then stated: “He is my candidate,” the Progressistas leader said in an interview.
Bolsonaro conceded that Nogueira’s appointment as Chief of Staff is part of his strategy to expand his support base in Congress, where the party headed by Nogueira has 10 representatives in the Chamber and 7 in the Senate. He also said again that the term “Centrão” (center voting bloc) is pejorative and used to alienate legislators from the Planalto base.
“We believe that a senator would have better dialogue with parliament. When some people talk about the “Centrão” in a pejorative way, the mainstream media are trying to keep politicians away from the center, more to the center of myself. There are approximately 200 legislators. If I give them up, that leaves 300. Of these 300, half are leftist, who will never vote with us”, he said.
However, the president did not guarantee that the nomination will prosper. Everything hinges on a meeting to be held next Monday, July 26, when the legislator will return from recess.
“I will talk to him on Monday and then make a decision. It will not be an internet wedding. I know Ciro. I spent more than half of my term as a deputy with the Progressistas,” he said.
However, Bolsonaro has already fired Luiz Eduardo Ramos, who headed the portfolio. To keep him within the government’s structures, he will become Secretary General of the Presidency, also a cabinet position.
To do this, Bolsonaro has said he will create another ministry – Employment and Social Security – which will be carved out of the Ministry of the Economy, and headed by the current Secretary General of the Presidency, Onyz Lorenzoni.
The move has Bolsonaro to break two campaign pledges: not to increase the number of ministries and to delegate the management of the “Superministry of the Economy” to Paulo Guedes.