The largest opposition party, the Liberal Party (PL), is trying to secure command of the 1st vice-presidency and the Infrastructure Commission of the Federal Senate from February.
The names listed for the positions are Eduardo Gomes (TO) — former leader of the Jair Bolsonaro government in the National Congress — and Marcos Rogério (RO) — who previously served as leader of the opposition to the Lula government —, respectively.
Negotiations for the composition of the Steering Committee and the heads of the permanent committees are taking place amidst difficulties for , in which it is the clear favorite.
Internal elections are scheduled for a Saturday. Work at the National Congress should resume from the following week.
Currently, the two positions coveted by the PL are with the MDB. Senator Veneziano Vital do Rêgo (PB) is the 1st vice-president. In the absence of the president of the Senate, it is the 1st vice president who usually presides over the House’s sessions and represents him at events.
Senator Confúcio Moura (RO) heads the committee focused on infrastructure issues.
Although agreements for the direction of commissions and the House itself are usually reached between the parties with the main candidate for president before the elections, the names for each position need to be ratified by colleagues. Therefore, they will also need to go through internal claims.
Historically, respect for proportionality in the size of each party bench has been advocated. The bigger it is, the more important the position won by the party.
However, this metric has not always been followed. Agreements can overlap, even at the will of the interested parties.
Acronym of former president Jair Bolsonaro, the PL currently has 14 senators.
It is behind only the PSD, which has 15. The MDB has 11 senators and the PT, the party of the President of the Republic, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, has 10 senators, for example.
