Brazil’s Rio Grande do Sul governor says he will not be “anti-PT” or “anti-Bolsonarist” candidate for presidency

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – João Doria’s main opponent in the PSDB internal presidential primaries, Rio Grande do Sul governor Eduardo Leite on Tuesday (28) said that if chosen by the party to run for the presidency, he will not be anti-PT or anti-Bolsonarist, but will instead focus his energies on presenting a future agenda for Brazil.

“It’s not about being anti-PT or anti-Bolsonarist. It is about not being anti anything. Brazil needs to stop destroying, to stop being against one or the other or even both,” Leite told journalists. “We will discuss what we want to be, about the future Brazil.”

“We will mark different positions we have in relation to the other candidates, but our campaign will not focus on being against simply to avoid one or the other. It is our qualities and not the flaws of others that will get us elected and lead Brazil to a better path,” he added.

According to Leite, who declared his vote for Bolsonaro in the second round in 2018 against Fernando Haddad (PT), it was the discourse of the PT administrations that “opened the way” for Bolsonarism.

“Bolsonaro didn’t emerge out of nowhere. He emerges from a feeling bred from a policy made based on division, led by the PT. I am not saying that they are equivalent, that they mean the same thing. Even if it wasn’t intentional, even if it wasn’t the aim, the PT ultimately produced an environment of political conflict that led to the rise of Bolsonaro.”

Unlike Doria, who has already hinted at a female vice-presidential candidate should he be the PSDB’s name in the presidential race, Leite said that “more important than diversity being present in the party is being committed to diversity.”

The Rio Grande do Sul governor pointed out that this name will only be defined after the prelims and talks with potential allied parties.

Backing Leite, Senator Tasso Jereissati (PSDB-CE), who gave up his candidacy in the primaries to support him, commented on the potential departure of the ex-governor of São Paulo Geraldo Alckmin from the party and said he will work to have him stay.

“I consider it an invaluable loss if this were to happen. I have been talking to him every week so that we may find a way for him to remain in his rightful place, which is within the PSDB,” Jereissati said. “I am working for him [Alckmin] to remain with us,” Leite added.

During the press conference, the Ceará senator said that Leite’s profile is of a leadership looking to the future and that the PSDB candidate to the Planalto needs to “have the capacity to unite rather than separate.” Jereissati believes that Leite has the capacity to unite.

“After the prelims, we will have a long journey of talks with other parties, because it will be essential that this path to the center should have a number of candidates that is adequate to the electoral reality. The capacity to unite that I perceive in Eduardo is essential for him to be a candidate for the presidency at this time,” he said.