The PT of Paraíba will support the ticket of governor Lucas Ribeiro (), from , (-PB), he told Sheet the state president of the party, Cida Ramos (PT). The decision on the alliance will be confirmed at a state directory meeting this Saturday (11).
President Lula (PT), however, will campaign for two other candidates for the Senate: former governor João Azevedo (PSB), who is on Ribeiro’s ticket, and senator Veneziano Vital do Rêgo (MDB), brother of the president of the TCU (Tribunal de Contas da União), Vital do Rêgo, and who is on another ticket.
This year, there are two seats up for grabs per state.
At least for now, the decision of the party’s national directory is that the president does not endorse the candidacy of former mayor of Patos Nabor Wanderley (Republicans), Motta’s father. The mayor is still waiting for a conversation to discuss the election in Paraíba.
The decision to join Governor Lucas Ribeiro’s ticket was informed to the Sheet by the president of the party in Paraíba. “This is the trend. This aims to increase the president’s vote, which currently has around 62% of valid votes in Paraíba, and strengthen the party’s state and federal benches”, stated Cida Ramos this Thursday (9).
The day before, she met with the national president of the PT, Edinho Silva, and federal deputy Aguinaldo Ribeiro (PP-PB), the governor’s uncle, to seal the alliance. In exchange, the party will also ask for the position of vice-president and will present a letter with commitments for the candidate.
PT’s support for the governor’s ticket will prevent Veneziano, who is on another ticket, from using Lula’s image in electoral programs. On the other hand, Motta’s father will only benefit from the PT’s TV time if the party decides to reproduce the government coalition for the Senate as well.
The PT president avoided confirming her support for the rest of the Senate ticket, saying that this will also be discussed by the directory on Saturday. “On Saturday we will remove all signs. We held meetings in several municipalities to listen to the militancy,” he said.
Behind the scenes, part of the PT members claim that Lula will not be able to deny support to Motta’s father, at the risk of fracturing the relationship in Brasília, on which the President of the Republic also depends to approve his projects. Allies of the President of the Chamber expect at least gestures from the PT member, such as photos with Nabor, and want to avoid a direct confrontation. He is also awaiting a conversation with Lula on the subject.
How, the relationship between Motta and the Lula government caused the PT in Paraíba to move away from supporting the father of the president of the Chamber and further strained the relationship in Brasília.
The local party was divided between support for the gubernatorial candidacies of Lucas and that of the then mayor of João Pessoa, Cícero Lucena (MDB). Last year, he also criticized Motta for his attempt to approve the PEC (Proposed Amendment to the Constitution) and the choice of Bolsonaro deputy Guilherme Derrite (PP-SP).
The situation bothered Motta, who, in addition to becoming the target of criticism from the party, sought Lula’s support to elect his father to the Senate. The PT member had 66.6% of the votes in Paraíba in 2022, against 33.4% for former president Jair Bolsonaro (PL), and is an important electoral leader in the state.
Since then, the President of the Chamber has been present at acts and events at Palácio do Planalto.
According to the president of the local PT, the party will ask for the position of vice-president, but this is not a counterpart to the support for the governor, which is already in place. “The PT has staff, it has political and management expertise, it has the electoral size for it,” he said.
Cida Ramos also states that Lula is bigger than the PT and will have a triple platform in the state: Lucas Ribeiro, historian Lúcio Flávio (PSOL) and Cícero Lucena. The speech corroborates the position of the national directory, which expects a front with more than one candidate defending the president in Paraíba.
Lucena, however, had conditioned support for Lula on the local PT’s formal alliance with him, which would increase his electoral propaganda time on TV and radio. He has appeared ahead in voting intention polls.
Senator Veneziano, brother of the president of the , is also competing for Lula’s support with Motta’s father – but the tendency, today, is for the PT member to ask for votes only for the emedebista and Azevedo. Veneziano is one of the main parliamentarians of the president’s allied base in the Senate.
