The result in the municipal elections and the cooling in the Lula government’s relationship with the financial market influenced the speeches of the PT leadership at the party’s national seminar, which has been held since Thursday (5) in Brasília.
The series of meetings ends on Saturday (7) with a meeting of the national directory to decide, among other topics, the calendar and rules for the internal election, scheduled for July 2025. On the last night and during this Friday, directors, militants and experts have been debating topics dear to the party.
On the stage occupied by eight prominent leaders, the national president, Gleisi Hoffmann, and the Minister of the Civil House, Rui Costa, gave the toughest speeches on the economic area. The leader even cited Argentina led by ultra-liberal Javier Milei when criticizing budget cuts in public policies for retirees
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The declaration comes at a time when the government and Parliament are discussing changes to the criteria for granting the Continuous Payment Benefit (BPC), aimed at the elderly and people with disabilities.
“If it is to sacrifice retirees, workers, health, education, the country’s economy in the name of fiscal orthodoxy as we are seeing in Argentina, what would the PT be for?” said Gleisi, the last to speak at the opening ceremony of the seminar.
“If it were to satisfy the insatiable greed of the financial system, suffocating the country with stratospheric interest rates, and impassively watching exchange rate speculation, what would the PT be for?”
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Rui Costa, in turn, initially made a coded speech, suggesting that there was a concertation against the Lula government.
Narrative dispute
“It is important that we do this and other seminars, so that we can compete for the narrative, occupying every radio station in this country, every blog, Instagram, Facebook and Tiktok account, because what they are doing is anticipating the 2026 election , bringing to the present an attempt to destabilize the government”, he said.
Upon leaving the event, questioned by journalists to whom he was referring when he accused an attempt to destabilize the Lula government, the minister mentioned a Quaest survey, released the previous day, showing that the Lula government has a negative assessment for 90% of the financial market.
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The survey interviewed 105 managers, economists, analysts and decision makers in the financial market in investment funds.
“Maybe 90% of the 105 respondents in that survey. Maybe they want to do that. Because the real numbers don’t point to that. I want them to say which indicators signal a doubt (in relation to the economy)”, he challenged.
For him, “if people don’t want to bow to data and facts, I can only assume that there are other parameters with which they are working, and eventually it could be a political-electoral parameter, a political pretension in this type of speculative act against Brazil”.
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As a backdrop to the pressure from the financial market on the federal government is dissatisfaction with the spending cut package, presented by the Minister of Finance, Fernando Haddad, along with the announcement of the expansion of the Income Tax exemption range. “Faria Lima” operators assessed the cuts as timid and irritated the PT leadership.
Municipal elections
The performance of the municipal elections was also felt in the speeches – and directly influences the themes of the seminar tables. This Friday, for example, experts and members debated “the new world of work” and “the challenges of communication” for the PT, points considered sensitive in the party’s internal reflection. The speeches point to the recovery of a past in which the party felt closer to its activism.
There were several mentions of the need to return to dialogue with the base to have a better result in the 2026 elections. Odair Cunha (PT-MG), leader of the PT in the Chamber, asked that everyone be “brothered, connected with what the Brazilian people feel”.
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The president of the Perseu Abramo Foundation, Paulo Okamotto stated that the PT needs to “enchant the Brazilian people again”.
Luna Zarattini (SP), councilor elected with the party’s highest vote across the country, stated that the PT “did not have the results we expected” and called for “resuming the historic struggles”. Luís Caetano, mayor elected in Camaçari (BA), in turn, recommended that his supporters do as he did: “organize the movement to listen to the people on the street”, and thus reconnect with the base.
The difficulty in depending on the progressive camp to re-elect President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva in 2026 and increase the benches in the Chamber and Senate had a change in tone that was already appearing in behind-the-scenes conversations. Leaders increasingly advocate betting on allies from the moderate right to be able to face the strength of Bolsonarism in two years’ time.
Government leader in the Chamber, José Guimarães (CE) defended “attracting the center to our side, maintaining our essence, to re-elect Lula”. Costa asked for reflection on how to “guarantee senators, even if they are from allied parties, but committed to President Lula’s project”.
The Senate is emerging as an important field of contention for the PT after being the object of Bolsonarist greed for the next election. The strategy on the right is to create a super bench and gain power to stand up to the Federal Supreme Court (STF) and eventually approve the impeachment of ministers, especially Alexandre de Moraes.
Lula
President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva regretted not participating in person in the seminar promoted by the Workers’ Party in Brasília because, in his opinion, there is a lot to learn in the debates organized about the government’s problems and the party’s anxieties.
“It’s a shame that I can’t be in Brasília participating in this event since Thursday because I think I would have a lot to learn from the debates on political formation, on the anxieties of our party, on the problems of our government and on the expectations of our activism”, stated Lula.
On Thursday, the PT member announced that he will hold a ministerial meeting on the 19th. The president said that, at the meeting, he will “give some messages” to the heads of the departments.
The head of the federal Executive will participate in the event live and remotely. Lula is in São Paulo, where he is expected to participate in a dinner organized by the Prerrogativas group this evening. First lady Rosângela da Silva, known as Janja, will be honored.
