The new stage of PAC (Growth Acceleration Program), launched by (PT) in Osasco (SP) on Friday (25), focused on regions in which the party has lost electoral force in recent years.
The event, held in the Jardim Rochdale neighborhood, an area marked by high social vulnerability, brought together allies with claims to compete in the elections in 2026, but was emptied by opposition mayors who will receive the investments.
In addition to federal and state deputies of the Paulista PT and PSOL benches, the Minister of Entrepreneurship, (), quoted to dispute the state government with petista support, occupied the front row of the stage. The state bench of the PT has already evaluated the alliance, but PSOL has not yet positioned itself.
Of the R $ 4.7 billion announced by Lula, R $ 2.5 billion will go to São Paulo municipalities – in special for cities that made up the so -called “red belt”, formed by former industrial zones of Grande with strong union presence and massive voting in the PT, such as Caieiras, Embu das Artes, São Bernardo do Campo and the periphery of the capital.
The federal government denies electoral bias in the allocation of resources. According to the Ministry of Cities, the projects presented by these municipalities were the ones that had the best conditions of execution. “The funds are released through the selection of proposals presented by public entities and qualified by the federal government,” the folder said in a statement.
The works planned for the outskirts of the metropolitan region focus on urban structuring and involve infrastructure actions, risk prevention, housing, environment, land regularization, socioeconomic development and access to public services and equipment.
Despite the volume of resources and the official invitation, the mayors of the contemplated cities-all-right parties-chose not to attend the event. The Governor (Republicans), also absent, spent the week inside the state after being criticized for his oscillating response to the tariff imposed on Brazil by the US government. Its initial reaction to the 50% surcharge announced by Donald Trump two weeks ago was to blame Lula.
During the event this Friday, the president made an indirect criticism of Tarcisio: “When we go to a city, we invite the mayor to come. I invite the governor to attend all the events I do. I never cared about what party is the mayor or governor. I am here on a simply institutional mission.”
The only exception among the mayors was Gerson Pessoa (Somos), from Osasco. Reelected in October with 75.28% of the votes – and 79.75% in the neighborhood where the event took place – he was booed by the mostly petista audience. State Representative Emídio de Souza (PT), who tries to consolidate his name to dispute the city in 2028, obtained only 12.91% of the votes on site.
