Quoted to the right representative, Zema has maintained ambiguous relationship with the former president (PL) since his first election to the government of Minas Gerais in 2018.
After presenting himself as a scholarship candidate, the miner had moments of distance and rapprochement with the former Mandanker, seeking to attract the conservative electorate without bringing along the rejection of Bolsonaro. This Wednesday (4), defended the former president and said he will give him amnesty if he is elected to the Planalto Palace.
Here are the main chapters of their relationship.
Bolsozema
Zema was one of the main surprises of the elections in 2018, leaving the election to governor of Minas Gerais from a forgotten third place for the second round victory with more than 70% of the votes.
The turn was drawn when he called Bolsonaro’s figure in a debate held by TV Globo. In that election, his party, the new, had João Amoêdo in the race to the Planalto Palace.
“Those who want change, for sure, can vote for different candidates, which are Amoêdo and Bolsonaro,” Zema said at the time. In the second round, it was even deeper into pocket adherence, adopting the “pocketzema” staff.
Ways in the pandemic
In April 2020, at the beginning of Covid’s pandemic, Zema said there was one against public appearances from Bolsonaro that caused agglomerations when health authorities defended social isolation.
The governor stated that he might not share the same opinion as the then president, but that he had the right to do what he was doing. Shortly thereafter, he stated that Brazil was among the countries.
The pandemic worsened and, in March 2021, Zema for the first time adopted restrictive measures for all municipalities in the state. He stated that “the federal government underestimated the dangerousness of the virus, to which it should have given more attention, in what it classified as” a disability. “
At that moment, Minas lived a critical moment, and had reported 500 deaths from Covid in a single day. In April 2021, in an interview with Sheetthe governor maintained criticism of driving by Bolsonaro, especially the lack of a health minister with autonomy, but against the then president.
Support in the 2nd round of 2022
Zema announced support for Bolsonaro against Lula (PT) two days after the first round of the 2022 presidential election. “In many things we converge and in others, but it is a time when Brazil needs to move forward and than in the opponent’s proposal,” he said at the time.
HAS Sheet He stated days after “the president in his lines, but I have never seen a talk to make a democratic country stop being it.”
Silence about indictment
With the deepening of investigations into the 2022 coup plot, Zema followed since the last presidential elections, when he began to launch signs exchanged, between nods and distancing, about his relationship with pockets.
In 2024, after having the act on Paulista Avenue promoted by Bolsonaro, the governor reached the end of the year of the former president on suspicion of participating in the plane of coup orchestrated in 2022.
In July, commenting on the former president’s indictment in the case of, Zema that the relationship between them was good and came out in defense of the former president.
In municipal elections, however, when to support Bruno Engler (PL), Zema did not participate in the campaign acts.
Own candidacy and pardon
Presidential candidate, Zema embraced the conservative agenda and, in an interview with SheetHe has questioned the existence of the military dictatorship and promised to pardon Bolsonaro if the former president was convicted.
He said he would not compete for the election against Bolsonaro, but did not rule out his candidacy if one of the former president’s children or wife competed in 2026.
