União Brasil party will support neither Bolsonaro nor Lula in 2022, says Mandetta

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – The foundation of the União Brasil political party, a merger between the DEM and PSL parties, still requires the approval of the Superior Electoral Court (TSE) to be formalized. The TSE is expected to approve it by February 2022.

“That is the only option categorically stated by everyone who participated in the União Brasil discussions, that the party would not endorse the reelection of Bolsonaro or the return of Lula,” Mandetta said. “The party must have an internal debate to decide its path. This is not yet ready. There are still ongoing discussions to define the party’s path until the election.”

According to the ex-minister, the delay to align the party’s “path” in 2022 is because the “best way is always the most difficult to build,” referring to what became known as the third way.

Mandetta criticized Bolsonaro’s administration, in which he was Health Minister during the coronavirus pandemic. In his opinion, the President is “an irresponsible populist.”

“What he is doing now to try to get re-elected, to use public spending, to defer court-ordered debts, this is not a responsible government. He greatly undermines liberal thinking. His Economy Minister is incompetent, he doesn’t deliver anything, he is an entertainer who can’t even materialize a debate about a balanced budget,” he said.

“That [the government] is a gang proselytizing daily on customs agendas and an irresponsible political diversionism, turning the population against institutions, ruining institutions, straining democracy to the point of worrying about a coup.”

Mandetta also stated that he has been disappointed by Bolsonaro’s decision-making, as have “35 million other people.” According to the ex-minister, those who voted for the current chief executive were not “to blame, but Bolsonaro was.”

“Bolsonaro was elected with almost 58 million votes. If you look at the polls, he has less than 25 million. We were not the ones who were wrong, Bolsonaro was wrong. He interrupted the cycle of technical Ministries. He asked me for a technical Ministry, and when the greatest health problem came [pandemic], that affected people’s lives, he decided to give up the fight for life,” he said.

MORO’S ENTRY AND PSDB PRIMARIES

Mandetta mentioned the affiliation of ex-minister Sergio Moro to Podemos, thus becoming a pre-candidate for the presidency in 2022. When asked if the former judge’s entry into the political game could “shuffle” the third way, Mandetta said he “is not worried about Moro, because he comes to help.”

In his opinion, the challenge for former Lava Jato judge Moro will be “to dialogue with those who set the political agenda and add people to this project [the third way].”

“I think Moro will have to start a conversation and see what is possible and what isn’t possible to accept from different agendas. He sits at the table representing the fight against corruption, but we have huge challenges in health, education, economy, hunger. Let’s see who joins these proposals.”

However, Mandetta said he was concerned about the PSDB primaries. Next Sunday, November 21, a total of 44,697 registered members will vote to choose the party’s representative running for the presidency in the October 2022 elections.

“I find the PSDB primaries more complex, and the extent of the very tight dispute and how these hurdles might be. If PSDB members may think that ‘just because they passed the primaries, they are candidates for the presidency of the Republic,” said the ex-minister.

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