The former Minister of Tourism left this Wednesday (21) after the party closed the door on his candidacy for the Senate in . He has already run for office, in 2022, and ran for Mayor of Recife in 2024, supported by his personal relationship with .
According to leaders, the departure is a direct result of the former president’s arrest. Without the possibility of direct intervention from Bolsonaro, Gilson was isolated in the party. His candidacy for the Senate does not have the support of the party’s state and national leadership.
“I change parties, but not my shirt. I follow Bolsonaro,” said Gilson Machado to Sheet. He did not say which party he will migrate to, but said he intends to run as a candidate for a center-right party. Interlocutors indicate the possibility of affiliation with Podemos or Novo.
In a note, he summarized the conflict. “I continue to be the name defended by President Jair Bolsonaro for the Senate race for Pernambuco. However, I am not the name chosen by the party’s state leadership for this mission”, says the statement.
In PL, Gilson’s departure was celebrated behind the scenes. The party wants to concentrate its efforts on the candidacy of the party’s state president, who was mayor of Jaboatão dos Guararapes, the second most populous municipality in Pernambuco.
In this way, the leadership of the party feared more internal splits and vote division. According to PL members. there is an agreement for Flávio Bolsonaro to support Anderson. Despite Pernambuco’s historical Lulist tendency, Bolsonaro supporters believe that their son will repeat Jair Bolsonaro’s vote in the state, who received 33.07% of the votes in the second round.
The bet in the PL is that a transfer of Bolsonarist votes could elect Anderson senator. To do this, understands the acronym, it is necessary to concentrate efforts on a single candidate. In this sense, Gilson’s departure was considered positive.
The PL believes that the former minister will not have space in a center party to be a candidate for the Senate. In “root right” acronyms, his former supporters understand, there will be no funds to finance a competitive majority campaign. The likely destination, they believe, is a candidacy for the Chamber of Deputies.
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