Senator Flávio Bolsonaro (PL-RJ) is preparing for the 30th, in São Paulo, the first major act of his presidential pre-campaign, where he is expected to launch his government plan and announce the list of senators in the state, according to reports from the pre-candidate’s allies.
Today, Guilherme Derrite (PP) occupies the first place on the ticket of Tarcísio de Freitas (Republicans), but the PL has not yet defined the name that will inherit the estate of Eduardo Bolsonaro (PL-SP). Flávio’s brother, Eduardo was the third most voted federal deputy in the state in 2022 (with 741 thousand votes), but he has been in the United States since March last year, with no prospect of returning to the country.
The event being organized by Flávio’s surroundings is expected to bring together party leaders, businesspeople and parliamentarians who support the pre-candidate. The idea, according to allies, is also to present the main guidelines and proposals that will appear in the senator’s government program, as well as the expectation that the act will also serve to announce who the parliamentarian’s Finance Minister will be, at a government event.
In addition to being the largest electoral college in Brazil, allies defend that the act takes place in São Paulo to show alliance with governor Tarcísio de Freitas (Republicans). Last week, after an event at the Legislative Assembly of São Paulo (Alesp), Flávio stated that the governor will act as a kind of campaign coordinator in the state. An ally of the pre-candidate claims that Tarcísio’s strength in the state is considered crucial to boosting Flávio’s name in the dispute. There is an assessment that the performance in the state, with the difference in votes for Lula’s candidacy, could guarantee the victory of the son of former president Jair Bolsonaro.
This ally also states that the PL has “two electoral laboratories” that should guide the senator’s strategies this year: the 2018 and 2022 elections. According to him, it is necessary to understand where Bolsonaro’s performance was not sufficient, to try to reverse the results with focused strategies, and seek to widen the difference in votes where the former president won over the PT member.
Before the event scheduled for the 30th, Flávio intends to fulfill a sequence of reserved agendas with representatives of the financial market, managers and businesspeople from São Paulo — a stage treated by allies as essential to test receptivity to the candidacy and reduce possible resistance to his name.
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According to interlocutors, the senator will go to São Paulo before the 30th. The most important point of the event will be the announcement — or at least the signaling — of the name that would command economic policy in a possible government.
Among campaign interlocutors, the hypothesis of nominating economist Daniella Marques, former president of Caixa Econômica Federal during Jair Bolsonaro’s government, has gained momentum in recent weeks.
Privately, members of the PL assess that the choice would help to convey the continuity of a liberal agenda without completely reissuing the model associated with former minister Paulo Guedes.
To date, however, the definition is not treated as closed, and allies claim that the discussion with investors will serve as a thermometer for the final decision. The idea of announcing the leader of the economy in March repeats what was done by Bolsonaro in 2018, when Guedes was elevated to the position of guarantor of his campaign.
In addition, Flávio has also asked interlocutors for indications of people who could work in the campaign in different areas, as a type of advisors, ranging from sectors such as infrastructure to education and health.
Program as the axis of the campaign
The act on the 30th should consolidate proposals that have been gradually presented by the senator for months, such as:
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end of presidential re-election;
reduction of public spending;
expansion of the privatization program;
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review of tax reform points;
reformulation of SUS financing.
Two days before the event in São Paulo, Flávio will participate, on March 28, in a political event organized by federal deputy Luciano Zucco (PL-RS), in Rio Grande do Sul.
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Allies also claim that he will go to Rio de Janeiro before March 30th and are looking for a date for an agenda in Minas Gerais, but that this possibility has not yet been defined. Today, the senator still does not have a structured platform in the state.
