National pressure for the party directory in Rio Grande do Sul to give up having its own candidate for the state government to support former deputy Juliana Brizola () faces resistance from the party’s oldest leaders in the state.
The technical group of the national directory that defines the PT’s electoral strategies published a letter this Tuesday (7).
The text says that the PT from Rio Grande do Sul must consider President Lula’s national re-election strategy with a broad center-left base, and build “a joint electoral tactic with the PDT and other parties in the democratic field, under the leadership of comrade Juliana Brizola, as a political expression of this strategy in the state”.
The state’s PT members want to launch the former president of Conab (National Supply Company) Edegar Pretto, who has already run in 2022, as governor. In response, Edegar released his own letter stating that he received the document from and requested a meeting of the party’s state directory to discuss the issue.
“The party body that defined the electoral tactics in Rio Grande do Sul is sovereign to decide my role in this year’s elections”, said the pre-candidate.
In one, former governors Tarso Genro and Olívio Dutra, in addition to former mayor Raul Pont, defended, in fiery speeches, the party’s own candidacy for governor of Rio Grande do Sul.
Former national president of the party, Tarso, who was Minister of Education and Justice in the first terms of , said that an intervention is disrespectful to the militancy and history of the PT in Rio Grande do Sul, which commanded the state twice and governed Porto Alegre from 1989 to 2004.
“I don’t believe they have the courage to make an intervention to tell the militancy here in the state that our candidate is from another party,” he said.
Olívio Dutra led chants of “Lula, Edegar” and called for the union of “our left-wing parties, in the popular democratic field, against the privatized state”. The alliance, to date, also has the support of PC do B, , and .
Edegar became viable as a government candidate shortly after surprising in the 2022 elections, when he came in third place with 26.77% and did not remove the candidate for re-election, , from the second round by just 2,441 votes.
Linked to family farming and one of the few PT names with good results in the field, he was chosen by President Lula to lead Conab in his third term.
The main absence from the event was federal deputy Paulo Pimenta, one of the president’s closest allies in the state and pre-candidate for the Senate.
When contacted, the deputy’s advisor said that he did not go to the event due to agendas linked to the delivery of the INSS CPMI majority report.
However, politicians linked to Pimenta’s group, such as state deputy Laura Sito and Porto Alegre councilor Natasha Ferreira, were also not present and did not comment on the event on social media.
Lula received Juliana and the national president of the PDT, Carlos Lupi, at Palácio do Planalto, in February, to discuss the possibility of support.
In addition to the resistance from part of the PT militants, the party has already signaled that it should not participate in the alliance if the PT member is the head of the ticket, which could change the dispute for the Senate. Former deputy Manuela D’Ávila, who joined the party after 20 years in , is the group’s other pre-candidate for the Senate and spoke at the event in defense of Pretto’s candidacy.
According to the federal deputy, the fact that the PDT was part of Governor Eduardo Leite’s () base during his two terms is important. PSOL criticizes Leite for the privatization of public companies and economic policies implemented during his administration.
Support for the current government was also the target of criticism from Raul Pont, a PT member who governed Porto Alegre from 1997 to 2001. “How are we going to campaign for a person who has supported neoliberalism for 12 years?”, he asked, citing the PDT’s support for José Ivo Sartori (), Leite’s predecessor.
On Monday, Juliana released a joint note with the PDT’s national and state directories reiterating support for Lula’s re-election and cited his record against the privatizations of state companies CEEE (energy) and Corsan (water and sanitation).
She also said that she tried to build unity, “even with disagreements”, with sectors of the center and center-right to help rebuild Porto Alegre after the 2024 climate tragedy.
and received support from Eduardo Leite, then in , as an alternative to the PT, which launched federal deputy Maria do Rosário, and to Bolsonarism, which supported the then candidate for re-election, Sebastião Melo (MDB).
Juliana came third with 19.96% of the votes, six percentage points below Maria do Rosário. The dispute was resolved in the second round, with Melo winning, with 61.53% of the votes.
The party also confirmed on Monday that the PDT left Leite’s base, who is campaigning for his vice, Gabriel Souza (MDB), as successor.
