On the eve of the election year, the government (PT) used the second half of 2025 to accelerate progress and expand the dissemination of actions with popular appeal, including the 2022 dispute.
The final months of this third year in office were used to speed up deliveries that mainly targeted low-income audiences, in addition to preparing the ground for proposals that have not yet been approved, but should set the tone for his re-election campaign next year.
Palácio do Planalto boosted the announcement of the increase in IR exemption () for those earning up to R$5,000 and prepared a mobilization to try to move forward with proposals, expansion of real estate credit and resumption of, topics that should be present in the 2026 debates.
More recently, the government changed the process for issuing the , by enrolling in driving school courses and instituting automatic renewal for drivers without infractions.
The management’s declared objective was to reduce costs, targeting specific audiences such as delivery people and app drivers who needed a license and faced barriers with the high cost of classes, exams, tests and documentation.
The agenda was handled mainly by the General Secretariat of the Presidency, the department responsible for bridging the gap with social movements, since the end of October headed by ().
One of the agendas that gained weight in the government with the arrival of the new minister was — which provides for six days of work and one day of rest. To unlock the proposal, which was being processed in more than one project in Congress, Boulos went to the Chamber of Deputies to defend the issue.
Lula also carried out actions aimed at popular housing, a program to renovate houses, and announced actions focusing on the middle class.
Most of these announcements were accompanied by publicity pieces in the media and events at Palácio do Planalto with a strong popular nature, intensifying the presence of representatives of civil society and social movements at the ceremonies.
In the meantime, the Lula government also changed from “Union and Reconstruction” to “Government in Brazil: on the Side of the Brazilian People”, as a mark of the new moment of the mandate.
Isabel Mota, electoral lawyer, states that the concentration of actions before the campaign calendar is in effect is a strategy used to circumvent conduct that is prohibited by the Elections Law to prevent the exploitation of the public machine by government officials.
“The objective [da lei] is to try to balance the conduct that tends to affect equality and opportunities between the candidates in the elections”, he says. “It is a very wide range of conduct, with the aim of trying to strike a balance between the contestant who is in power and the contestant who is not.”
The lawyer also says that, in certain cases, large contributions of resources and massive advertisements with electoral appeal may end up being considered forms of abuse of power, even before the electoral period.
When contacted, Secom (Communication Secretariat of the Presidency) stated that there was no relationship between the actions and the election calendar. Planalto said that the deliveries in question are part of a continuous effort, based on planning, and not specific initiatives concentrated in a certain period of the year.
“The launch of public policies implies time for technical maturation, institutional dialogue and collective construction with the National Congress, states, municipalities and civil society. An example is the project that resulted in the expansion of the Personal Income Tax exemption range, mentioned in the report. Although the sanction occurred in November, the proposal was forwarded to Congress in March. The same occurs with the other measures”, says a note sent to Sheet.
Boulos’ performance
Lula’s relationship with social movements in the second half of the year was marked by a change in the General Secretariat, with the replacement of Guilherme Boulos, under a clear demand from the president to put the “government on the streets”.
The expression gave its name to the program that should be the main banner of the pre-election General Secretariat, which aims to bring federal services to cities, with joint efforts to support programs such as Reforma Casa Brasil, Gás do Povo, Pé-de-Meia and the National Registry of Domestic Animals, among others.
In a coffee with journalists held in December, Boulos stated that there is a fear among management that the program’s deliveries will be confused with an irregular electoral campaign.
“Although it is a social service issue, there may be some type of question regarding electoral legislation. Therefore, our goal in 2026 is to have the ‘Government of Brazil on the Street’ by June, unless there is an opinion from the control bodies, which allows us to move forward”, declared Boulos.
Still in line with intensifying the idea of popular participation, the government will also start a popular budget program in January 2026, called Participatory Brazil, an online system in which citizens will be able to choose the areas in which they want investment from the Union.
According to the minister, the popular budget proposal will be tested in the first months of 2026 and should not be subject to restrictions under electoral rules.
The actions of these last months of Lula 3’s penultimate year contrasted with a first semester marked by successive crises in the government’s public image, which determined fluctuations in the president’s evaluation.
Between January and June, the government was faced with scandals that required a reaction to reverse their negative effects. In January, a government order relating to monitoring transactions via Pix was about taxing the free payment system.
After that, those of retirees and pensioners from the INSS (National Social Security Institute) came to light, culminating in the dismissal of Carlos Lupi, then Minister of Social Security, and the president of the INSS at the time, Alessandro Stefanutto.
Subsequently, the government faced the (Tax on Financial Operations), after publication of the tax on specific credit operations, irritating the business community, leading to back-and-forth with Congress and retreats from the PT administration.
