Former deputy for Minas Gerais will be the 1st PT member to occupy a vacancy in the Court of Auditors
The former deputy (PT-MG) took office this Wednesday (May 20, 2026) as minister of the Federal Court of Auditors. Odair will be the 1st PT member to assume a position as minister of the TCU and the 15th to occupy seat number 2 of the Court of Auditors.
Odair was on April 14, with 303 votes, for the vacancy opened with the retirement of minister Aroldo Cedraz. The following day, he received the recommendation by 50 votes to 8.
The new minister was sworn in at an extraordinary session of the TCU, with the presence of the president (PT), vice-president (PSB), from the president of the Senate, (União Brasil-AP), and the president of the Chamber, (Republicans-PB). Also participating were 14 ministers from the Lula government, senators, deputies, former ministers and directors of regulatory agencies.
On Tuesday (May 19), TCU ministers that the PT member meets the constitutional requirements of unblemished reputation and moral suitability to take office at the Court of Auditors. The analysis was carried out in a public plenary session, a necessary step before taking office effectively.
WHO IS ODAIR CUNHA
Former federal deputy for Minas Gerais, Odair Cunha served 6 terms in the Chamber. He was the author of 18 projects that became law, such as the one that created Perse (Emergency Program for the Resumption of the Events Sector). Created in 2021, the program helped companies that halted activities during the Covid-19 pandemic. He was also rapporteur for provisional measure 132, which gave rise to Bolsa Família.
In 2013, he was elected president of the Workers’ Party of Minas Gerais and took a leave of absence from his term in the Chamber from 2015 to 2018 to assume the Government Secretariat under the management of former governor of Minas Gerais Fernando Pimentel (PT).
The PT member was also a rapporteur for the Cachoeira CPI, set up to investigate relations between businessman Carlos Augusto Ramos, known as Carlinhos Cachoeira, with public and private agents.
CRITERIA
TCU vacancies are distributed among nominations from the Senate, the Chamber and the Presidency of the Republic: there are 3 for each. Positions must be filled in a linked manner. In other words: replacing a minister is up to the same institution that appointed the previous one. Cedraz had also been nominated by the Chamber.
