In 2024, at least four federal deputies left and there were complaints of internal pressure to align with the Bolsonaro agenda, including opposition to any proposal coming from parties on the left.
Members and former members of the party claim that the party leaned towards the more radical right after it and several of its allies in November 2021.
They spare the president and attribute the attitude to parliamentarians aligned with Bolsonarism.
For the group of critics, the majority maintains the right-wing conservative agenda, while the minority, around 20 parliamentarians, remains more inclined towards the center.
In 2022, the PL elected 99 federal deputies. Today, there are 94. The casualties were due to the departure of five parliamentarians and the .
Federal deputy Samuel Viana (currently in -MG) reports that pressure from the “root” right, as this wing of the party is called, resulted in his departure at the end of 2023. According to him, there were months of internal discussion and evaluation until he concluded that, if he wanted to follow another path, it would be necessary to disaffiliate.
“The parliamentarians from the extremist wing did not accept that other parliamentarians had a different profile. They wanted to impose everything to vote against [a esquerda]”, he reports. “This generated an internal conflict, so I understood that, to have this moderate profile, I would have to leave the party.”
In his assessment, the conduct that made him leave the PL has gained more and more space in the acronym.
“My perception is that the party continues to have a bias towards radicalism, extremism, and those who are taking this bias are the parliamentarians who are dictating the tone”, he says.
According to him, this is a submission bias. “Either you accept what Bolsonarism says or you are considered a ‘PL communist’.”
Viana’s departure was followed by that of Yuri do Paredão (-CE), Luciano Vieira (Republicanos-RJ) and Junior Mano (PSB-CE). Robinson Faria (RN) has also indicated his departure.
Mano was expelled after (PT), current mayor of Fortaleza, who ran against the PL’s own candidate, Bolsonaro supporter André Fernandes.
Upon leaving, Mano posted on a social network in which he reiterated his support for Valdemar and said that the party leader had been forced to expel him under pressure from Bolsonaro.
“I recognize that the decisions you are being forced to make do not reflect your true desire. Everyone knows that former president Bolsonaro is in charge of the party and it was he who requested my expulsion”, he says in the publication.
Luciano Vieira, in turn, reports a combined exit with the acronym due to his support for his brother, Leo Vieira (Republicans), in the dispute for Mayor of São João de Meriti (RJ). Vieira defeated the PL candidate, Valdecy da Saúde.
“The party ended up going with the mayor of the city, who was our opponent, the opposition there, and it ended up that I had to leave to contest the election and we won”, he says. “They understood and respected.”
Yuri do Paredão said that he is currently in the MDB and that he has no opinion on the party life of other parties.
“My departure from PL happened because I defended dialogue, respect for institutions and belief in the Lula government. Finally, I emphasize that I have deep respect for President Valdemar Costa Neto.”
Robinson Faria did not respond to the report’s contacts.
When contacted, the PL stated in a note that “no parliamentarian left the party due to alignment with Bolsonarism or right-wing agendas”. According to the acronym, party changes occurred exclusively for regional or personal reasons.
“In addition, many deputies have already expressed their intention to join the PL in the next party window, especially due to the link with Bolsonarism. We are confident that we will further expand our strength in the , consolidating the PL as one of the largest parties in the country”, he says .
PL is one of several offspring of Arena, an acronym that supported the military regime, and has been led by Valdemar Costa Neto since the beginning of the century.
After a period of membership and opposition in the governments of (PSDB, from 1995 to 2002), the party placed vice-president on Lula’s ticket (PT), in 2002, with businessman José Alencar, then coming from the MDB.
Since then, the PL has almost always been in the orbit of the PT governments, especially commanding the transport area. In 2014, he joined the centrão, a group recreated by (then in MDB-RJ) and which would be decisive in the overthrow of Dilma Rousseff (PT) in 2016.
After Bolsonaro’s membership, in 2021, the party left the category of medium parties and became big.
