RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – With the project of creating their own party deferred until 2021, President Jair Bolsonaro’s followers will try their luck at the polls in the November municipal elections, using conservative parties that have accepted to serve as a temporary shelter for Bolsonarists until the Aliança pelo Brasil (Alliance for Brazil) gets off the ground.
Vice-President Hamilton Mourão’s PRTB (Brazilian Labor Renewal Party), Roberto Jefferson’s PTB (Brazilian Labor Party), Rio Mayor Marcelo Crivella’s Republicanos (Republicans), and the Patriotas (Patriots) party, were the parties that most invested in Bolsonarists for the municipal elections, according to Luís Felipe Belmonte, the Aliança vice-president. There are also allies of the President running under the DEM (Democrats) party in some cities.
Named by the São Paulo Prosecutor’s Office as the operator of a fake news scheme in the so-called “hate cabinet” of the São Paulo Legislative Assembly (ALESP), activist Edson Salomão, who is chief of staff for state deputy Douglas Garcia, will run for a city council seat in the São Paulo capital under the PRTB banner.
Garcia, who was expelled from the PSL (Social Liberal Party), is charged with having allowed Salomão to use the ALESP equipment to attack Federal Supreme Court (STF) justices and political opponents, among them Deputy Joice Hasselmann.
Like him, the majority of conservative leaders of the most radical wing of pro-Bolsonaro groups have decided to go to the polls in 2020 for the party, which is relying on civilian group movements like Avança Brasil (Forward Brazil), Movimento Conservador (Conservative Movement) and Nas Ruas (On the Streets), as well as YouTubers, online influencers and politicians linked to PSL deputies who were isolated in the party after the Bolsonaro clan left the party.
Among the PRTB members in São Paulo is Ricardo Rocchi, a demonstrator of the “Tomataço” (hurling tomatoes) protest – who was banned by STF Justice Alexandre de Moraes from coming within 200 meters of any court justice. In addition to him, Bruno Zambelli, brother of Bolsonarist Deputy Carla Zambelli (PSL), blogger Ricardo Santis, and Juliana Kohan, of the Mulheres com Bolsonaro (Women with Bolsonaro) group.
“PSL Bolsonarists and São Paulo activists came en masse to the PRTB. We have candidates from Avança Brasil, Nas Ruas, and other groups,” said Jairo Glikson, a member of Revoltados Online (Outraged Onliners) and coordinator of the PRTB governing council.
According to PRTB President Levy Fidelix, the party will have 77 candidates for city councilor. “Of these, 30 are bolsonarists, some of them linked to Gil Diniz and Eduardo Bolsonaro. Without the Aliança they have sheltered here,” he added.
Fidelix will run for city council and says he will be the only Bolsonarist in the campaign. “Bolsonarism has at least 20 percent of the votes in the capital. They have no option. Do you think they’ll vote for Joice Hasselman? There’s no choice. Only I stand for Mourão and Bolsonaro,” stressed the PRTB president.
Outside the state capital beltway
One of the deputies closest to Bolsonaro, Carla Zambelli (PSL) will launch PRTB allies in inland cities. The Bolsonarist’s strategic alliance with that party will also have candidates in other states. In Belo Horizonte, state deputy Bruno Engler, who was expelled from the PSL and leads Avança Brasil in Minas, will be the representative of Bolsonarismin the mayoralty dispute.
“Bolsonaro secured 65 percent of the votes in the second round in Belo Horizonte. My campaign will be in full alignment with him,” said the legislator, who also leads the right-wing Minas movement. In the race for the city hall in Macapá, capital of northern state Amapá, PRTB candidate Cirilo Fernandes will face Josiel Alcolumbre, the brother of David Alcolumbre, presidident of the Senate.
The PRTB candidates will enjoy the support of Vice-President Hamilton Mourão, who vowed Fidelix to travel around Brazil after the conventions to help the party’s campaigns. “Mourão is a crucial attraction in our party. He will help us all over Brazil,” Fidelix said.
The PRTB, which today has no federal congressional deputy, will present its candidates in the elections as “Mourão and Bolsonaro’s candidates”, according to Fidelix.
PTB
The alliance between the PTB’s national president, Roberto Jefferson, and President Jair Bolsonaro, has opened the party’s doors to Bolsonarist candidates in the municipal elections. Jefferson has actually invited the president to join the party, but has yet to receive a response.
“Many Bolsonarists from the interior interested in the dispute came to the PTB. In our city council in the capital, at least 20 percent are Bolsonarists,” Campos Machado, state deputy and party president said.
The PTB attracted, among others, retired and active military officers and union leaders of São Paulo’s truckers. In addition to Jefferson, Campos believes the party’s platform, which is strongly opposed to Governor João Doria (PSDB), also helped to attract the President’s advocates.
In Rio de Janeiro, the Bolsonarist electoral base, the Republicanos party of Mayor Marcelo Crivella was selected to seek re-election. With 106,657 votes in 2016, Carlos Bolsonaro will attempt his sixth consecutive term in the city council.
In addition to him, the Republicanos are also betting on Carlos’ mother, Rogéria Bolsonaro, and community, military, and online Bolsonarist leaders, to help them elect at least ten city councilors in the capital.
Source: O Estado de S. Paulo