March 24, 2022

08:03

Yusseff Ibrahim – from Cenarium Magazine

BRASILIA – After months of negotiations, the former governor of São Paulo, Geraldo Alckmin, joined the Brazilian Socialist Party (PSB) on Wednesday morning, 23, in an act that filled the João Mangabeira Foundation, in Brasília.

Lula was not present at the event, which can be interpreted as a zeal for the new member’s protagonism, or to avoid characterizing the act as an electoral event. Even so, after outlining the similarities between the socialist principles of the PSB and the social democracy of his former party, the PSDB, Alckmin spoke of Lula and the election.

“Some may find it strange. I disputed with President Lula the election, in 2006, we went to the second round, but we never put the democratic question at risk. Never. The debate was of a different level. Democracy was never questioned. Democracy is a value, a principle, it’s respect for people”, commented Alckmin.  

Knowing that his presence in the 2022 election also symbolizes a rescue for the democratic right in the Brazilian political game, the former governor of São Paulo did not miss the chance to ‘skewer’ President Jair Bolsonaro.

“Our first task is to combat lies, because lies are the worst thing for the democratic regime. Those who criticize, distrust, act in a nonchalant manner towards the election result are, in reality, offending democracy. Those leaders who threaten parliament are threatening democracy, those who attack the STF are attacking democracy,” he criticized.

After highlighting Lula’s life story and charisma as elements in tune with the main demands of the population, Alckmin exalted Brazil’s need to resume a development and reindustrialization project.

“I have no doubt that President Lula, God willing elected, will work to reinsert Brazil in the world scene. He will widen the horizon of economic development and will reduce this sad social difference that we have in the country. Brazil needs to be good for everyone”.

“Lula doesn’t need to calm the market”

When referring to speculation that his eventual presence on the presidential slate with Lula would serve to “calm the market,” the sentence from the new PSB member was in line with the increasingly common manifestations of important players linked to what is called the “market.

Last Friday, 18, the megainvestor Mark Mobbius, who specializes in emerging markets, stated in an interview with FolhaSP, from Singapore, that Lula would bring greater confidence to foreign investors and that this would already be producing reflexes even during these last years of the Bolsonaro government.

“Investments in the country have performed better than their peers in recent months, and perhaps the reason for this is the expectation that Lula will win the elections. You have to remember that at the time when Lula was president, the markets used to have a very positive performance,” evaluated the manager.

In early February, Canada’s Independent Research Center (BCA Research) even recommended the purchase of Brazilian stocks and government bonds, motivated by the contrast in economic results between 2003 and 2010, under the Lula administration, and the stagnation of the current government, according to a report in Exame magazine.

The impeachment of Dilma Rouseff

At the end of the event, Geraldo Alckmin even answered UOL’s report if he felt regretful about his support for the impeachment of president Dilma Rousseff, now that the formation of a slate with the PT is imminent.

“It was a moment. I have always been careful on that issue. I am a parliamentarian, because in presidentialism you have very tight mandates and the only way when you have a crisis is impeachment. President Dilma is an honorable person, a serious person, I have always said that, but it was a set of factors that ended up leading to the impeachment,” he explained.

In 2016, Alckmin was governor of São Paulo and was one of the last Toucans to speak out in favor of Rousseff’s impeachment, in March of that year, just five months before the impeachment.

“I have always been careful, the impeachment cannot be trivialized, the popular mandate must be respected.”

PT presence

Alckmin’s affiliation marks the last act for the PT’s formal invitation to him as a candidate for vice-president on Lula’s ticket. As an indication of this agreement, the event was attended by the national president of the Workers’ Party and federal deputy Gleisi Hoffman, senator Paulo Rocha, and the leader of the PT in the House, lawmaker Reginaldo Lopes.