RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – Federal deputy Luciano Bivar, the PSL national president, on Thursday (7) announced that União Brasil, the new party created from the DEM and PSL merger, will present a candidate to the presidency of the country in the 2022 elections. “I can assure Brazilians that União Brasil will present a candidate for the presidency ,” Bivar said.
When asked which party (DEM or PSL) will have a better chance of launching a candidate in 2022, Bivar said that the new party will jointly choose the name for the elections.
“I don’t want to think about names A or B. I can only think that our party, União Brasil, will present a candidate for the presidency of the Republic, I have no doubt about that,” he said.
In their respective conventions on Wednesday, DEM and PSL approved the merger and the creation and statutes of the new party, which will hold the largest number of seats in the Chamber of Deputies and increase the number of legislators in the Federal Senate.
After the merger, the new party will adopt number 44 in all election campaign material – DEM now uses 25 and PSL 17.
The founding of União Brasil still requires the Superior Electoral Court’s (TSE) approval to be made official, expected by February 2022, before the opening of the party window, which can change the number of seats with the departure and admission of deputies to the party.
Bivar said that the party is not concerned about the number of seats in Congress, as both the DEM and the PSL advocate democracy and the rule of law, and therefore “those who have the same purpose will remain in União Brasil.”
“We want in the party those who stand for the values I mentioned: respect for democracy and the rule of law. Those who do not believe in them have complete autonomy to decide to leave for whichever party they choose,” he said. “Our values are non-negotiable.”
PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDACY
DEM’s national president ACM Neto said that the priority of the merger is to “launch a candidate for the Presidency of the Republic.”
“It is obvious that we want the new party to be born as the largest and most important in Brazil, not only in number of legislators, but in governors for 2022, and the potential to have its own national project. But the party’s priority will be to launch a candidate for the Presidency,” he said.
According to ACM Neto, today there are “very qualified” people inside the DEM and the PSL who may lead the presidential race in 2022. However, he said that new names may emerge, particularly in the race for governor.
On Wednesday, after União Brasil party was officially announced, DEM federal deputy and former Minister of Health Luiz Henrique Mandetta commented on the parties’ merger.
Having himself shown interest in running for the presidency of the Republic, he said the party has “excellent members and plenty of willingness to play the leading role that Brazilians have been waiting for.”
“Brazil needs unity to overcome hunger, inequality, low quality education, populism, anti-democratic initiatives, and so many other problems that afflict us. União Brasil has been born. And I will remain committed to building the Union of Brazil,” he wrote on a social network.