Pre-candidate for governor of the PSD, the federal deputy was an enthusiast of the senator, former judge of the investigation launched in 2014 and today as well.
Sandro Alex was chosen by the governor (PSD). He is currently serving his fourth term in the Chamber of Deputies, but, from 2019 until now, he spent most of his time on leave to work as Secretary of Infrastructure and Logistics in Paraná.
In the Chamber, from 2011 to 2018, he participated in votes such as and a, positioning himself favorably in both. During the period, he also praised Operation Lava Jato and spoke a few times in support of Moro.
As vice-president of the Ethics Council, Sandro Alex also worked in favor of the impeachment of Eduardo Cunha, then president of the House, in the wake of investigations involving Petrobras.
“Here, today, I want to pay tribute to everyone from Operation Lava Jato — the Federal Police, the Public Ministry and, mainly, judge Sergio Moro, who, incidentally, is from Paraná, a region that is very proud of the Moro family and surname — for the work they have been doing. May he continue to bring us the light of a new country!”, declared the deputy, in 2015.
Over the years, Sandro Alex also came to Moro’s defense in moments of challenges to the operation and praised the former judge’s move to the Ministry of Justice, already under Jair Bolsonaro (PL). In 2020, he published a photo on a social network alongside Moro and Ratinho Junior: “It’s an honor to be alongside these two great public men. Paraná should be proud!”.
In an interview with Sheet this Tuesday (14), Sandro Alex stated that “all Brazilians, and especially those from Paraná, defended Operation Lava Jato because it was a milestone in the fight against corruption and represented hope”, but claims that there was frustration with the developments of the investigation.
“We regret that it ended up being cancelled, and perhaps one of the reasons was the very presence of the actors or the actor [Sergio Moro] within the political process. But the operation is part of history and it was my feeling at the time, legitimate, but it was lost,” he said.
“All that work carried out was deconstructed precisely by the political will of the judge himself in coming to the field of politics”, continued Sandro Alex. “And I, as a member of the Ethics Council, still interacted with the operation due to Eduardo Cunha’s impeachment process. I was one of the rare politicians who went to the operation to have the necessary documentation”, he stated.
Sandro Alex has a degree in law and began his professional career in radio. The family controls radio stations in Ponta Grossa (PR), its main electoral base.
The governor’s decision to name Sandro Alex surprised even his supporters. The deputy had appeared in the , but was left aside in the following months, as Ratinho Junior worked to promote the name of another ally, Guto Silva (PSD), former secretary of Cities.
But Guto Silva’s performance in the voting intention polls so far, in the group’s assessment, would not have been enough. Moro has appeared in first place and worries Ratinho Junior’s group, whose party has the largest number of city halls in the state and the largest bench in the Legislative Assembly.
Critics of Sandro Alex’s choice within the group remember, however, that the deputy no longer appeared in recent polls and that there is no certainty about his potential at the polls. “I’m going to start from scratch, yes. It’s a campaign that starts now to show the strength of the Ratinho Junior team. Until now, we were working. We weren’t wasting time on campaigning or research. Now we’re going to enter the field”, he responded to the report.
Tipped for Planalto, the governor retreated from his plans for the presidency of the Republic last month. Among other reasons, he identified that he would need to dedicate himself to electing a successor in the state, given Moro’s weight among the electorate.
The opposition reacted to Sandro Alex’s choice with distrust. President of the PT in Paraná, state deputy Arilson Chiorato said that Ratinho Junior plays a “double game” with Sergio Moro and that Sandro Alex will be an “orange” candidate. “[Ratinho Junior] He doesn’t have the courage to admit that he wants to hand Paraná over to a false moralist, who used Farsa Jato to engage in politics”, he wrote on a social network.
In the October election, the PT will support the candidacy of state deputy Requião Filho (PDT) for the government of Paraná.
In addition to Sandro Alex, Moro and Requião Filho, the former mayor of Curitiba Rafael Greca (MDB) is also presenting himself as a pre-candidate for the government of Paraná. State deputy Alexandre Curi, who left the PSD for the Republicans to run for Palácio Iguaçu, backed away from his plans.
This Tuesday (14), Ratinho Junior recorded a video confirming Curi as a pre-candidate for the Senate on the ticket headed by the PSD.
In the same video, the governor cited deliveries from his administration and, in the pre-campaign tone, stated that Sandro Alex was “the secretary responsible for converting Paraná into a construction site”.
