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SÃO PAULO Y RIO – On the last day of the party conventions of a pre-campaign marked by the announcement by President Jair Bolsonaro that he would avoid acting in the municipal elections, the participation of him and his allies -among parliamentarians and sympathizers in the networks- – in the disputes in the two main capitals of the country is clearer. In São Paulo, Celso Russomanno will be launched today by the Republicans, in a political agreement that interests the president to try to weaken the governor of São Paulo, João Doria (PSDB). In Rio, the presidential family has the mayor and candidate for re-election Marcelo Crivella, also from the Republicans, an ally, but with Bolsonaristas with mandate and in the networks they express support for Luiz Lima, a PSL deputy.
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In São Paulo, until yesterday there was strong expectation about a possible alliance between the Republican candidate Celso Russomanno and the PSL. The strategy of getting a deputy from the party to which Bolsonaro belonged would benefit the president on three fronts: it would remove Republicans from Governor João Doria’s base of support in the São Paulo Legislative Assembly – wearing the toucan down until the 2022 presidential elections – , would present a competitive bid in the election of the largest city in the country and, finally, strengthen Marcos Pereira in the dispute to replace Rodrigo Maia as mayor.
Russomanno has met with Bolsonaro several times in the last two weeks. Republican President Marcos Pereira spoke by phone with Deputy Júnior Bozzella, PSL state president. Russomanno’s efforts lasted much of the week. In a married strategy, allies of the candidate say that the strategy would be to convince the PSL to remove deputy Joice Hasselmann from the São Paulo electoral race. However, there was strong resistance from the São Paulo wing of the party.
The abrupt withdrawal of Joice from the elections in São Paulo, reflect the leaders of the PSL, would demonstrate insecurity within the party itself and submission to the Plateau, which goes against the strategy of the party, which intends to run for the presidency of the Chamber of Deputies, with Luciano Bivar (PE), president of the national title. In August, after Bolsonaro considered returning to the PSL, Bivar told GLOBO that an eventual return to the party would have to go through not only the screening of the national executive, but also the bench of deputies in Brasilia.
Pressured to withdraw the candidacy and run as deputy for the mayor of São Paulo, Celso Russomano (Republicans), federal deputy Joice Hasselman (PSL) presented her application for registration of candidacy in the Electoral Court. The PSL of São Paulo resisted the advances and, according to members of the municipal board, Joice’s campaign is being played normally. Despite pressure from outside and within the party itself to withdraw Joice’s candidacy, dissatisfied with President Jair Bolsonaro, the PSL national executive’s assessment is that it would be “demoralizing” for Joice, and for the party itself, to return later that the name of the deputy was made official at a party convention.
Today, of the politicians with a mandate with national expression, only federal deputy Junior Bozzella and Senator Major Olimpio – unhappy with the Bolsonarista wing – are immersed in Joice’s campaign. The majority of the party, including members of the PSL National Executive, are in favor of rapprochement with Bolsonaro and a peaceful relationship with Planalto. Bozzella denies that the PSL campaign in São Paulo has been threatened by pressure from Republicans. He says that he was approached by the national president of the Republicans, Marcos Pereira, and by “Russian envoys” to address the issue.
– The PSL had already decided that Joice would be a candidate. That was never a bargaining chip. So much so that we did the convention the first day. Celso left the convention for the last day – says Bozzella.
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Despite pressure for a change of course in the candidacy of Joice Hasselmann, the party’s lawyers heard privately by GLOBO say that the only possibility that the deputy loses her position would be for the national leadership to annul the convention held on 31 December. August and celebrate a new one on Wednesday. For them, however, there is no time.
For Silvio Salata, a lawyer specialized in electoral and party law, Joice has nothing to fear from his candidacy.
– It was elected by convention, the Electoral Justice has already been communicated and today it was registered. There is nothing else you can do to get it out. The national directory could even challenge this judicially, but there would have to be an indication of addiction or fraud, says Salata.
Before harassing the PSL, Russomanno tried various articulations (with PSDB, MDB and even PTB) because he always considered the issue of television time important. However, none of the work went well and it could end up on a pure plate in isolation. The only option then would be the support of Bolsonaro.
Even before the nods of President Jair Bolsonaro to the mayor of Rio, Marcelo Crivella (Republicans), federal deputy Luiz Lima (PSL-RJ) tries to attract parliamentarians and digital militancy to have the support of Bolsonarismo in this municipal election. Launched for mayor by the PSL, at a convention last Saturday, Lima also seeks to evade a ban imposed by Senator Flávio Bolsonaro (Republicans-RJ), Crivella’s ally, on other candidates using the president’s image to boost their campaigns. . In his first campaign video, Lima used images of Bolsonaro in the 2018 campaign, without being accompanied by other candidates.
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The narration of the video affirms that Bolsonaro’s election represented “a renewed desire never seen before in the history of that country,” and then recalls that Lima himself was elected federal deputy in the same election. In addition, the Lima material uses images of Crivella and former mayor Eduardo Paes (DEM), another opponent in these elections, criticizing “political groups that have always mixed Rio’s politics and saddened the city.”
After launching the candidacy, Lima received signs of support from members of the Bolsonarista caucus in the National Congress, such as federal deputy Daniel Silveira (PSL-RJ) and federal deputy Bia Kicis (PSL-DF). Another who winked at the deputy, on social networks, was the secretary of Culture Mário Frias. He supported a publication in which Silveira stated that, with the PSL candidate, “now we have an option aligned with the Bolsonarista base” that is running for the city of Rio. PSL candidate in Nova Iguaçu, Raquel Stasiaki, cited in message on the networks the alliance between Republicans, Crivella’s party, with the presidential candidate of the PSDB, Geraldo Alckmin, in the 2018 elections, and affirmed that he would support “a true Bolsonarista.” Lima appreciated the message.
Lima’s initial strategy is to focus criticism on public management, also directed at Paes, and avoid ideological attacks due to the old links between the former mayor and Crivella with the governments of the PT and the World Bank. Former Olympic swimmer, Lima assumed for a year, at the beginning of Michel Temer’s government, the National Secretariat of High Performance Sports.
– Of course, I know the commitments made, mainly at the national level, with the Republicans. I have no personal problem with Mayor Crivella. But, as a citizen of Rio, I am not satisfied with the political history of my city, both with Eduardo Paes and with Crivella – said Lima at the PSL convention.
While part of the Bolsonarista militancy in the networks has been sharing photos of Lima with Bolsonaro, profiles that defend support for Crivella have been sharing the narrative, fed by allies of the mayor, that the deputy would have moved away from the hard core of Bolsonarismo in the crack of PSL in 2019. Lima came to support the creation of the Alianza por Brasil party, a project headed by the Bolsonaro clan, but left the WhatsApp group earlier this year claiming that the lack of homologation of the caption would make it unfeasible their participation in municipal elections. At the time, the deputy also said that it would be “shameful” to leave the PSL, citing his good relationship with the party’s president, Luciano Bivar.
Crivella’s allies intend to explore, in the campaign, Lima’s participation in the RenovaBR courses, a supra-party renewal movement that brings together some parliamentarians opposed to the Bolsonaro government, such as Tábata Amaral (PDT-SP) and Marcelo Calero (Cidadania- RJ). This Tuesday, Lima released a video on his social networks defending his participation in the movement, saying that participation made him “even more convinced of the political options” and taught him “to be tolerant of people who think differently.” According to the deputy, “it was like taking an English course.”
Since the beginning of the year, when Bolsonaro made the signal of support for Crivella clearer, the state and federal deputies of the Bolsonar base had resisted adhering to the candidacy of the mayor of Rio. Crivella’s team, however, opted for “relative neutrality.” of the president and his base, believing that no other candidacy would receive the massive support of Bolsonarism. With the rapprochement between Bolsonaro and PSL this year, Crivella tried to entice the party to nominate the vice on his ballot, which already has the support of seven other legends. PSL leaders held talks with Crivella until last Friday, the eve of the party’s convention, but the agreement did not prosper because Republicans refused to support the candidacies of Luciano Bivar’s allies in other municipalities, especially in Curitiba.
