Contrary to the former president (PL), who started the government in confrontation with Congress and ended up in an alliance with the center, the president (PT) enters the final stretch of his term with a commitment to overpowering the Legislature to approve projects of interest to his administration.
This strategy will have a new example this Thursday (8), when Lula will lead a ceremony in memory of the three years of attacks by Bolsonarists on the three Powers, in 2023.
In addition to the ceremony inside the Planalto Palace, activists are expected to concentrate outside, in an act in defense of democracy and with the motto “no amnesty for coup plotters”.
The expectation is that Lula will walk down the ramp to meet the protesters in the late afternoon. He can also use the ceremony as a stage to veto the bill that reduces the sentences of those involved in the January 8 attacks and the coup plot — a text that, if sanctioned, would benefit Bolsonaro.
Lula has worked to secure the support of wings of the center and get closer to the leadership of the Chamber and the Chamber, especially by supporting the economic agenda, but popular pressure on Congress has become one of the main instruments to guarantee governability on the eve of the election and resist agendas considered negative.
“The process of mobilizing society was the most defining element we had [em 2025]”, says the government leader in the Chamber, deputy José Guimarães (PT-CE), for whom the strategy should be repeated this year.
The agenda for the last year of the mandate has thorny topics, such as the PEC (Proposed Amendment to the Constitution) for Public Security, and the regulation of digital competition. There are others considered simpler, such as the provisional measure that expands the gas voucher, Lula’s bet for re-election.
In recent months, campaigns led by the PT have classified Congress as “” and defender of the rich.
This speech entered the center of Planalto’s political strategy, especially after the overturn of the decree that increased the (Tax on Financial Operations). It was also used to overcome resistance against taxation on income above R$50,000, compensation for those earning up to R$5,000.
Street acts were also adopted to gather popular support for the government and when the Chamber approved the Blindagem PEC, which prevented parliamentarians from being criminally prosecuted without authorization from Congress. The Senate unanimously rejected the proposal.
The mobilization of the left against the deputies, especially the president of the Chamber, (-PB), led to a temporary break between the native of Paraíba and the leader of the PT, Lindbergh Farias (RJ).
The tone rose when Motta chose as rapporteur for the anti-faction project —Lula’s bet in the public security debate— the deputy (-SP), an ally of governor Tarcísio de Freitas.
Lindbergh even declared, on the stand, that Motta was “losing the conditions” to preside over the Chamber and suggested a criminal prosecution. .
The tendency, in the opinion of PT members, is for the president of the Chamber to act more aligned with the government in 2026, in , Nabor Wanderley (Republicans), as senator for Paraíba. Even so, the relationship is one of distrust on both sides.
Despite the clashes, the Lula government made agreements to pay for parliamentary amendments with the aim of approving, in the last week before the recess, the , considered crucial to closing the 2026 accounts.
Lula also attempted a recomposition with , an acronym that had ordered its members to leave the government after disagreements with the PT administration. The PT member replaced the Minister of Tourism, Celso Sabino, with Gustavo Feliciano, nominated by a group of government deputies from the party, with Motta’s blessing.
The recomposition seeks to bring back the support of União Brasil, an acronym that joined the government at the beginning together with and .
Bolsonaro, in turn, began his term rejecting political support. After defeats in the customs issues, he concluded an alliance with the center to elect Arthur Lira (PP-AL) president of the Chamber, a kind of guarantor of the government in Congress.
Although he faced resistance mainly in the Senate, Bolsonaro managed to approve a robust package to run for re-election, with the cut in state taxes on gasoline and electricity bills, an increase in Auxílio Brasil (derived from ), expansion of the gas voucher and a default on precatório (judicial debts) to increase space for spending.
The more right-wing composition of Congress contributed to this, especially among the deputies. Lula, on the other hand, dealt with a base that was less ideologically aligned.
For political scientist Robson Carvalho, from the University of Brasília, Bolsonaro won broad support in the Chamber by outsourcing the Union Budget to Congress. “He handed over the government and the conduct of public policies into the hands of the center, led in the person of the [presidente do PP] in the Civil House, in the heart of the Planalto Palace”, he says.
Lula, Carvalho highlights, was elected with a minority “in a Congress absolutely addicted to parliamentary amendments.” “President Lula manages, as far as possible to converge, to approve some important things, some economic agendas, but with difficulties. He suffered several defeats and, unlike Bolsonaro, elected the Federal Supreme Court as a kind of ally”, he states.
