With seven days to go before the end of the party window for those who will run in October, almost 1 in every 4 federal deputies has already entered. The intense movement, which will leave Congress without sessions next week, led the former president’s PL to return to its size at the beginning of the legislature, to plummet in size and to the resurgence of .
Since 2022, 23% of federal deputies have switched parties at least once. There were even those who regretted it along the way and changed again. Vanderlan Alves (CE) was elected as a substitute for União Brasil and on February 10 registered his affiliation with the Republicans. On Wednesday (25), however, he decided to go to Solidariedade to run for re-election.
Representative Magda Mofatto (GO) was elected by the PL, but left for the PRD in the first year of her term. He returned to the PL on March 6, in support of the candidacy of vice-governor Daniel Vilella (MDB), but the party will have its own candidate for the government to rival the successor of (PSD) and now it is negotiating with MDB and PSD for a new change.
Representative Duarte Jr. (MA) spent his term in , but co-ordinated with União Brasil. With the form signed, however, he fell out with the party and is now looking for another party to run for.
The movements began even before the window was opened – a period from March 5th to April 3rd so that federal and state deputies can change parties without the risk of losing their mandate due to infidelity. Senators can change at any time, but they have next week to decide which party they will run for in the elections.
Even before the window opened, 48 federal deputies had already switched parties, such as the former minister (SP), who left the PL and joined Novo to run for , and Luciano Zucco, who left the Republicans for the PL to run for the Government of Rio Grande do Sul with the support of the Bolsonaro family.
The exchanges since the beginning of the mandate have dehydrated the PL. The opposition party is the largest in the current legislature and elected 99 deputies in 2022. However, deputies left little by little, due to disagreements within the right itself or to get closer to the government (PT). The party dropped to 88 deputies, close to the 80 of the PT-PV-PC do B federation, the main support group for President Lula.
The proximity of the presidential election, and the (PL-RJ) in the polls, changed this scenario. Since the opening of the window, the PL has gained 18 deputies –9 of them from União Brasil– and lost 5. In addition, it added two substitutes in Paraná, but they will be without a mandate with the return of the PSD incumbents. This Thursday (26), the acronym had 100 sitting federal deputies.
União Brasil, which PSL and the former DEM, is collapsing. The party that was the third largest in the Chamber has already lost 20 deputies and others have already announced that they will leave, but are still negotiating for which party. So far, only five new parliamentarians have arrived.
One of the reasons given for the disbandment is the federation with the PP, which caused the tickets to become very competitive in some states and also caused state leaders to lose local command to a member of the allied party.
There are also right-wing deputies who intend to contest the election for the PL, as they understand that it will be easier to be re-elected if they are directly linked to Bolsonaro’s party. The perception is that the presence of number 22 on the ballot box helps candidates seeking Bolsonaro votes.
Another reason is disagreements with the new president of União Brasil, Antônio Rueda. This was the case of deputy Danilo Forte (CE), who decided to return to the PSDB after not finding support to run for a seat at the (Federal Audit Court).
União Brasil is trying to reverse this decline by betting on strong slates with the federation with the PP and an electoral fund of almost R$1 billion, which will be concentrated in disputes for the Legislature. With the stampede, PP and PSD (which gained 9 deputies and lost 7) compete for the position of third largest bench.
The PSDB, which has surprised the political world and grown in this window. The acronym had only four confirmed exits, and still managed to join nine deputies, taking advantage of the lack of regional leaders in some states.
Among the new toucans is the former Communications Minister of the Lula Juscelino Filho (MA) government and the evangelical Pastor Eurico (PE), who became the TV presenter Xuxa in a debate on a bill.
The toucans also prevented a greater evasion in Mato Grosso do Sul, where the governor went to the PP, but 2 of the 3 federal deputies must remain, as well as mayors. The PSDB, however, remains far from its heyday and has 19 deputies.
What has also grown is , which almost merged with the PSDB. Without the toucans, it gained eight deputies and lost two. It is currently the eighth largest party in the Chamber, with 22 parliamentarians, ahead of traditional left-wing parties such as PSB and PDT or .
Lula’s PT, on the other hand, remained practically unaware of the window. It only lost one substitute, Elisangela Araujo (BA), who will be a candidate for the PSB, and has no prospect of joining anyone.
