Largest bench in Brazilian Congress sets strategy to oppose Lula; city of São Paulo to be governed by the right

By Berenice Leite

With the largest bench in the National Congress, Bolsonaro’s Liberal Party (PL, right) of defines strategies to oppose the Lula government.

A meeting of the acronym at the party’s headquarters on Wednesday allowed reelected and first-term members of Congress to discuss the party’s priorities.

The meeting was conducted by the party president, Valdemar Costa Neto, and the government leader in the Chamber of Deputies, Altineu Côrtes.

General Braga Neto and other parliament leaders were also present.

According to congressman Nikolas Ferreira, the bench took the opportunity to define the position concerning issues that should guide Congress in 2023.

Discussed was a possible regulation of the media, the end of fuel exoneration, and the installation of an investigation committee CPMI to investigate the actions and omissions of the federal government in the acts of the invasion and vandalism in Brasilia on Jan. 8.

The priority in the thematic commissions, which should be defined in the next few days, was also a reason for debate.

The PL is entitled to more commissions by proportionality criteria than other parties.

However, because of agreements made between almost all the parties to reelect Arthur Lira as the new president of the House, the party must give up the chairmanship of important committees such as the Constitution and Justice (CCJ).

For the PL not to lose space in the House, the legend intends to be present in all committees.

Moreover, it wants to command Control and Finance and Public Safety, which comes in handy with the party’s positioning.

As federal congresswoman Carla Zambelli explains:

“One of the priorities is the [Commission of] Inspection and Control because it is the only commission you can summon any minister independent of that commission. I am almost sure that the PL will not give that up.”

Among the subjects that guided the first working meeting was the strengthening and structuring of the party.

Not only the legislative agenda but also looking ahead to the municipal elections of 2024 throughout the country.

The PL currently has 324 mayors but wants at least 1,000.

The city of São Paulo is the most desired.

During the meeting, federal congressman Ricardo Salles launched himself as a pre-candidate for the mayor of the São Paulo capital.

“For sure, we are the candidacy of Jair Bolsonaro’s group. This is our group, and we are very proud of it.”

“São Paulo, it seems, will have, on one side, Congressman Guilherme Boulos, representing the left and the whole vision of Boulos, which, in my opinion, is the most backward vision there could be for the city of São Paulo.”

“Our alternative for the city of São Paulo is to follow the New York model. São Paulo adopted the model of Mayor Rudolph Giuliani [1994 to 2001], a model of zero tolerance, of fixing all the broken windows.”

“In English, that is the name of the principle that governed his administration and that solved the problems of New York City.”

“A city that put the law, order, respect for public things, and intransigence against all the wrong things that happened among its priorities. São Paulo needs this,” said Salles after the meeting.

The PL meeting also discussed other controversial subjects, but congressman Marco Feliciano pondered, saying it was a family meeting with the right to “wash dirty laundry”.

“There is a conversation with everyone to reach a common denominator. The common denominator is opposition. If it is opposition, we must take a position as opposition.”

“Today, we even made some requests to the president. One of them is that we have a family member from the PL who wears a sick anklet, which is unfair. Even when one body member gets sick, the whole body gets sick.”

“So, we ask that action be taken with the president Arthur Lira, for him to talk to the Justice of the STF so that something happens,” he said.

The congressman cited by Feliciano is Zé Trovão, elected for the first mandate.

He had his arrest decreed by STF Justice Alexandre de Moraes in September 2021 as part of the anti-democratic acts inquiry.

He was already under house arrest using an electronic anklet when he ran for office and was elected with more than 70,000 votes in Santa Catarina.

With information from Revista Oeste