The Minister of Social Development, Wellington Dias, told Sheet that the lack of organization in the president’s political support base () means that federal government programs are not as effective as they could be.
According to this reasoning, sectors allied with Lula in some states do not credit the government with merit for federal programs, allowing the electorate to associate the works with other political groups. Dias indirectly mentioned the fact that they are counted as achievements of politicians who, in practice, are opposition — but he did not mention names.
Lula —who, in 2025, said he would become increasingly leftist— lives with a Congress today dominated by . He managed to obtain victories in important votes, giving up space to parties that only partially support him, such as PP and União Brasil.
The minister admits that such a broad alliance makes it difficult for the government to claim authorship of its works. “There’s this side effect where at the same time we’re doing [obras] with who is the government and who is the opposition”, he says.
“There wasn’t a water system, now there is. There wasn’t an ICU in the city, now there is. And, for the person, whoever did this wasn’t the Brazilian government”, he states.
Dias mentions that the federal government transfers resources to states and municipalities, and that local politicians do not always make it clear that the action carried out is in partnership with the Lula administration. “It’s as if it were just for the municipality or just for the state. In many places they even change the name of the program”, he declares.
“In much of the country it’s as if we were playing [as ações] from a helicopter. Whoever is down there doesn’t know who is in the helicopter”, he adds.
The minister cites Piauí, where he was governor for two terms, as one of the places where Lula is most popular and obtains the highest votes. The minister attributes these results to the organization of the local political base and the clear delimitation between government supporters and opponents.
“When the government base is more organized and more present, the perception of who made the [a obra].”
The government body with the greatest responsibility for organizing political support for the President of the Republic is the Ministry of Institutional Relations. The department was already commanded, in Lula’s current term, by and . Dias does not hold the ministry or its former occupants responsible for this lack of organization.
The position of Minister of Institutional Relations has been vacant since last week, when Gleisi left the post to take power with the PT of Paraná. Dias is one of those mentioned, behind the scenes, as a possible replacement for the now former minister.
Lula will run for re-election this year. Voting intention polls indicate that he is with the senator (-RJ), . Furthermore, the negative assessment of the Lula government has predominated over the positive.
The head of government and his main allies believe that the administration produced good programs and works, and hoped that measures like this would be able to increase the PT member’s popularity.
“The president is very interested in understanding, with so many deliveries, what the population’s perception is,” says Dias.
The Minister of Social Development also mentions difficulties in communicating government actions to supporters who want to promote the Lula government at the local level. “There is a complaint that they cannot control what the government does in these places.”
Lula instructed most of his main assistants to leave the government and build their own candidacies for positions as deputy and senator.
Dias, like ministers Alexandre Padilha (Health), (Labour) and (General Secretariat), is part of a group that Lula kept in management to avoid a total emptying of management during the campaign.
