Exponents of the left and former members of the government used May Day to attack and link the overturn of the veto to the scandal, in response to a week of defeats by the president () in the Legislature.
Pre-candidates in this year’s elections in , the former ministers (Finance), (Environment) and (Planning), in addition to the federal deputy (PSOL-SP), participated in union events in the state, rehearsing a speech that should continue in the coming months.
Parliamentarians were once again announced by members of the Lula government as “enemies of the people” or responsible for hindering improvements in Brazil.
The week was marked by the name of the (Supreme Federal Court) by , on Wednesday (29), and by , on Thursday (30), in a Congress session. The project reduces sentences for those convicted of attempted coup d’état, including the former president (PL).
At the Força Sindical event, in Liberdade (center of São Paulo), Haddad, who will run for the Government of São Paulo against (Republicans), stated that the approval of the project is the result of an agreement for impunity.
“I am of the opinion that this so-called defeat in Congress was a defeat in the fight against corruption. I share with the analysts I have read in the newspapers that behind this defeat there was an intention of a great agreement around the impunity of those responsible for some recent scandals in Brazil”, said the former minister, .
In a speech at Roosevelt Square, also in the center of the capital, at the VAT (Life Beyond Work) event, Marina, pre-candidate for the Senate, classified the vote as “a shame”.
“Those who attacked our democracy, who fear our sovereignty, want to reduce the penalty with a false, hypocritical speech, that it is because of that poor guy who didn’t know what he was doing”, he stated. “The sentence for them shouldn’t be less, it should be greater.”
, the president of the Senate, (-AP), made an agreement with the opposition to guide the overturn of the veto and bury the request to install the CPI of Master, a financial institution liquidated by the Central Bank.
this Friday the agreement and said that “the one who has made the investigation difficult is the Workers’ Party, which did not sign the installation of the CPMI”.
Also in Roosevelt Square, Hilton, pre-candidate for re-election and author of one of the PECs (Proposed Amendments to the Constitution) against the 6×1 scale, classified the approval of the veto’s overturn as “a kind of amnesty in disguise”.
In a statement, the deputy said it was about protecting a “corrupt” political class, interested in attacking the STF and enabling impeachment of court ministers. “It is a decision that inevitably weakens Congress in the eyes of the people and Brazilian democracy in the eyes of the world,” he added.
The Minister of Indigenous Peoples, Sonia Guajajara, called on protesters to transform the act into an electoral campaign.
“We have to give a response. We have to re-elect President Lula, but we also have to elect parliamentarians who are committed to social issues, who are committed to our lives, to social measures and democratic freedom. Let’s go together to defeat this Congress that is an enemy of the people.”
The statements contrast with the position of candidates for the presidential race in 2026 who promised to grant amnesty to Bolsonaro if elected — Ronaldo Caiado (PSD) and Romeu Zema (Novo), in addition to Tarcísio, who ended up deciding to run for re-election in São Paulo. Bolsonaro was sentenced to 27 years and 3 months in prison by the STF for leading an attempted coup d’état.
The electoral appeal on May 1st was reinforced by Haddad, who called for the approval of the end of the 6×1 scale before the October election. The government sent Congress two weeks ago a project that reduces working hours to 40 hours a week without a pay cut.
The president of the ABC Metalworkers Union, Moisés Selerges, pre-candidate for federal deputy for the PT, stated that “the working class is breathing down the deputies’ necks for the law to pass.” The president of Força Sindical, Miguel Torres, classified the issue as “a general outcry from the Brazilian working class”.
In the afternoon, at the metalworkers’ event at ABC, alongside ministers Luiz Marinho (Labour) and Leonardo Barchini (Education), the minister of the General Secretariat of the Presidency, Guilherme Boulos (PSOL), attributed the stalling of the agenda in the Legislature to business pressure.
“Everything that depends on President Lula’s government is being done. Now, what depends on Parliament, unfortunately, has stalled in the Uber lobby, the iFood lobby and the lobby of the big platforms,” he told journalists.
Deputy Paulinho da Força (Solidariedade-SP), rapporteur of the Dosimetry PL in the Chamber and former president of Força Sindical, was at the event at the center, in Liberdade. Announced to be part of the table of authorities alongside Haddad, Marina and Tebet, he chose not to go on stage. In the auditorium, a protester displayed a poster with the phrase “Paulinho, what a mess, the Dosimetria PL will release a rapist and a thief”.
Haddad also stated that the technical tie between Lula and Flávio Bolsonaro in the Datafolha survey released on the 11th can only be explained by “collective brainwashing” and the campaign for the PT member’s re-election. The survey showed Flávio with 46% of voting intentions against 45% for Lula in the second round, within the margin of error.
Lula did not participate in the events for the second year in a row. In 2024, the president had criticized the low turnout at the demonstration held in Itaquera, in the east zone of São Paulo.
