The withdrawal of the first lady, da Silva, from participating in the parade caused relief among close allies of the PT member, who feared political exhaustion after the presentation at the .
For them, Janja’s participation would give ammunition to Lula’s opponents and attract criticism in the press. The main fear was a negative repercussion on social media, a terrain where Bolsonarism, the president’s main opposing political force, is strong.
PT leaders had identified the risk on social media days before the presentation, with criticism focused on the expectation that the first lady would parade. Several of Lula’s allies were against her participation.
Janja had been showing people close to him excitement at the prospect of participating in the school’s presentation. Ministers were banned from parading, but , as she does not have a formal position in the government.
Most of Lula’s allies and friends who accompanied the president in the Rio de Janeiro city hall box arrived at the venue still unaware that the first lady would not be parading.
Opponents accused Lula, the Acadêmicos de Niterói samba school, responsible for the parade, of early electoral propaganda. The (Superior Electoral Court) (12), but did not rule out further analysis of possible illicit acts.
As shown by Sheetexperts in electoral law assess that the parade . Some of them, however, considered the presentation restrained, which would reduce the potential harm of actions.
Lawyers close to Lula assess, on the other hand, that there is no legal impediment to a parade like that of Acadêmicos de Niterói. If there had been, according to this reasoning, the TSE would have prohibited the presentation.
Government opponents cite the target for the samba school. The money is part of the sponsorship that benefited all the associations of the Rio de Janeiro Special Group.
The senator (PL-RJ), pre-candidate for President of the Republic, said he will go to the TSE against the “PT’s crimes in Sapucaí”. The Novo party declared that because of the parade. The measure would be taken when registering the candidacy, which has a deadline of August 15th to be done.
In a statement, the first lady said that she did not parade to avoid persecution of Lula and the samba school Acadêmicos de Niterói, which promoted the performance. The plot was “From the top of the mulungu comes hope: Lula, the worker of Brazil”.
The parade also criticized the former president (PL), Lula’s main political opponent. Bolsonaro was portrayed as a clown in prison clothes at the parade – because of .
Lula’s allies interviewed by the report say they see the outcome of the parade as positive. Part of the President of the Republic’s entourage was afraid that there would be booing against the school or against Lula, and no significant demonstrations of this type were noticed coming from the audience.
The PT members interviewed by the report, however, recognize that it is unlikely that the samba school that honored Lula will be well placed in the dispute in Rio de Janeiro. Academicos de Niterói was promoted to the Special Group last year.
The president spent most of the time he was in Sapucaí in an area reserved for him in the Rio de Janeiro city hall box. Lula had his perimeter controlled by security guards from the Presidency of the Republic. Janja and the mayor, (PSD), were those closest to the PT member.
Despite this, the head of government circulated and chatted quickly with several people present and even went down with Paes to the parade location.
Lula’s longest conversations were with the mayor, who will run for governor in October.
Several government ministers accompanied the president of the Republic, such as (Education), (Mines and Energy), (Culture), Luciana Santos (Science and Technology) and (Institutional Relations), in addition to the vice-president.
Deputies and other politicians invited by Lula and, mainly, by Eduardo Paes were also in the box. There were also guests from outside politics, such as a group of trade unionists from São Paulo.
It was the first time since the government that a major samba school in Rio paraded honoring a sitting President of the Republic. The episode dates back to the 1950s, when associations such as Vila Isabel and Portela celebrated Vargas’ return to power.
Lula and Janja took a kind of tour of the main Carnival celebrations in Brazil in recent days. Before going to Rio de Janeiro, they were at and in .
