Brazil’s Workers’ Party (PT) Wants Lula to Run for President in 2022

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – “We must also ask him [Lula] if he wants to, but what we [the party] advocate is for Lula to have his political rights rescued, and then he will define whether or not he wants to run for office in the elections. We would like it very much, because I think he deserves this trial at the polls,” Gleisi said during an interview with columnists Tales Faria and Thaís Oyama of UOL.

Currently, Lula is unable to run for political office under the Ficha Limpa (Clean Sheet) Law because of his convictions for corruption exposed by Operation Lava Jato.

For the deputy, more than the ex-president’s candidacy, the party’s goal is to overturn the appellate court decisions that ratified his criminal convictions in the cases involving the Guarujá Triplex and the Atibaia farm.

If this were to happen and if Lula no longer had a conviction ratified by an appellate court, he would be eligible to run for office.

“If he is a candidate, we will work for Lula to win and govern Brazil. Lula touches the minds and hearts of the majority of the Brazilian people.”

Despite Gleisi’s remarks, has so far Lula ruled out any intention of running for the presidency again. In an interview with UOL columnist Leonardo Sakamoto, he said in April that he intends to be nothing more than a ‘campaign worker’.

“‘I keep looking back at my life and I have gone too far, I hope that when 2022 comes the PT will have a candidate. I’ll be 77 years old when October 2022 comes. If I have any sense, I have to help the PT to have another candidate and I have to be a good electoral campaigner. I want to help elect someone who has a commitment to the working population,” Lula said at the time.