New political party affiliation is “quite advanced” – Bolsonaro

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – President Jair Bolsonaro on Thursday, June 17, said over his weekly live stream on social networks that negotiations to join a new party are advanced. On Wednesday, June 16, the president met with allied legislators at the Alvorada Palace to discuss the matter.

“I will need to have a party, and I would have already solved this matter but it must to be adequately discussed. Party legislation is complicated, parties typically have owners. But my joining a party, a small party, is quite advanced,” said Bolsonaro.

The president is expected to join the Patriotas party, which has only 6 members in the current federal egislature.

In the Senate, the party is represented by Flávio Bolsonaro, Senator for Rio de Janeiro, the president’s son and one of the coordinators of his father’s affiliation.

However, the bench should grow significantly if this change of party is confirmed, with the departure of dozens of deputies, allies of the president, mostly from his former party PSL.

“I am sure that many deputies will go, but we will only be able to talk about it, decide about the change, after the president announces it, and also during the [party] window, which is only next year. In this window, many will certainly migrate and we are anxious for the president’s change,” said federal deputy Major Vitor Hugo (PSL-GO), former government leader in the Chamber, who also took part in the live stream.

The so-called party window is the deadline for candidates to change parties without the risk of losing their mandate. This period always occurs in an election year, 6 months before the election.

The Patriotas party has scheduled a national convention for June 24 in Brasília, where it should deliberate on statutory changes and the possibility of the party having its own candidate for the presidency.

Elected in 2018 by the Social Liberal Party (PSL), Bolsonaro disaffiliated in November 2019. At the time, he announced the creation of a new party, the Aliança pelo Brasil (Alliance for Brazil), which needed to collect a minimum of 500,000 signatures in at least 9 states to be formalized in the Electoral Justice. However, the project failed for lack of support, and the president began to probe his affiliation to an existing party.

During the live stream Wednesday, Bolsonaro said that should he be a candidate for reelection next year, he will prioritize the election of allies in the Senate, where he would like to have a more solid base. “I am interested, should I run in the elections, to increase the Senators’ bench. Some 27 seats that may change next year.”

The president downplayed the fact that he may be joining a small party, with few resources from the party fund and with television time of only 25 seconds, he said.

“Every year, free electoral time loses its strength at elections time. The population is more and more guided by social media and not by the free electoral broadcast time schedule,” he emphasized.

Printed ballots

President Jair Bolsonaro once again advocated the implementation of the printed vote in the 2022 elections. According to him, in the absence of an “auditable vote” in the ballot boxes, one side might not accept the election results, leading to “upheaval in Brazil.”

“Let’s respect Parliament. Otherwise we will have doubts in the election and we could have a very serious problem in Brazil. Either side may not accept it and lead to upheaval in Brazil,” the president said.

The issue is being processed in the National Congress through Constitutional Amendment Proposal 135/2019, presented by federal deputy Bia Kicis (PSL-DF) and under the rapporteurship of federal deputy Filipe Barros (PSL-PR).

The measure requires the vote to be printed for auditing purposes and the rapporteur’s vote is expected to be presented later this month in the Chamber.