The Minister of Finance, , indicated in recent days to allies that he could run for the government of São Paulo. He will have a dinner with the president () this Thursday (26), when the matter should be addressed.
The head of government told close politicians on Wednesday (25) that the Finance Minister’s candidacy was progressing. The president of the PT, Edinho Silva, has also taken Haddad’s name for granted in the dispute for the São Paulo government in private conversations.
According to reports collected by Sheetafter a conversation with the minister, Edinho told allies that he is willing to run.
Haddad told journalists outside the Ministry of Finance this Thursday that he had not spoken to anyone from the PT about the matter, and that discussions with Lula so far had been inconclusive.
The minister said he does not know what the topic will be discussed at the dinner. “The matter was not brought forward to me. Even Ana Estela is accompanying me”, he said, referring to his wife.
The most likely is that the ministers (Environment) and (Planning) will be candidates for the Senate for São Paulo, on Haddad’s ticket.
Both will have to change parties to run. The tendency is for Marina to migrate from Rede to PT; Tebet, from MDB to PSB. In the case of the Minister of Planning, she will also have to change her electoral domicile from Mato Grosso do Sul to São Paulo.
Lula has been pressuring his assistant to run for government, but Haddad resisted for fear of losing the election and ending his political career with a defeat. The apparent rise of (PL) in opinion polls, however, has led the minister to rethink his own choice.
Although they have little hope for a Haddad victory, PT supporters point out that a strong candidacy in São Paulo is important for consolidating Lula’s platform in the state, which has the largest electorate in the country.
In the opinion of the president’s allies, it would be essential to force at least a second round in the São Paulo dispute to help Lula’s vote nationally. The idea is to have a popular ally campaigning for the president in São Paulo until the decisive vote, on October 25th.
The right-wing representative will be the governor (Republicans), who will run as favorite for a new term at the head of the São Paulo government and is expected to support Flávio’s presidential candidacy.
Haddad . According to allies, the minister was tired of holding positions in the federal government and wanted to participate in discussions about projects for the country.
He mentioned, for example, . People close to the minister also mentioned that he could return to focusing on his academic career.
The President of the Republic has spent the last few months working to convince Haddad, with whom he has a personal relationship in addition to political affinity, to run for office. The pressure came both in private conversations and in public statements.
At the beginning of February, in an interview with the news portal UOL, Haddad knew he had “a role to play in São Paulo”.
Even with Haddad’s public denials, PT members took it for granted that he would be a candidate. The assessment was that the minister had no other option, from a political point of view, and that he would not deny a direct request from Lula. The pressure from party colleagues became greater over time.
PT ministers such as (Education) and (Institutional Relations) made public statements pressuring Haddad to run for office. “Everyone has to take the field, put on their shirt and do the best they know how to do in the electoral contest”, .
The government and PT leadership point to Lula’s vote in São Paulo, in 2022, as one of the main factors for the victory over the former president (PL).
