Six months before the presidential election, the president () and the senator () mobilize their teams, intensify the duel for allies and work to guarantee competitive platforms in the states.
The strategy involves blocking projects for own candidacies in the states, fighting internal crises within the parties and contemplating allies to gain capillarity for the October elections.
The PT has made progress in defining the platforms in recent weeks and is on track to have its own candidacies for government in just ten units of the federation – the number is lower than in 2022, when the party had 13 candidates for governor, and in 2018, when there were 16.
In another 14 states, the party will support candidates for governor from other parties. Alliances of names from the PDT and PDT, which are part of Lula’s base, are planned, as well as candidates from the , , and even , parties that are unlikely to be on the president’s official platform.
Part of the alliances left scars in the relationship between the PT’s national leadership and local leaders. This was the case in Rio Grande do Sul, where the PT Executive Committee joined the state directory to support Juliana Brizola’s (PDT) pre-candidacy for government.
The PT from Rio Grande do Sul defended former state deputy Edegar Pretto to run for Palácio do Piratini. This Thursday (9), the local directory agreed to support the unit. But the top-down decision left a trail of discontent among PT members in Rio Grande do Sul.
Rio Grande do Sul was one of the three states in which the PDT asked for the PT’s support for Lulista. The others are Paraná, where the PT has already concluded an alliance with Requião Filho (PDT), and Minas Gerais, a state where negotiations tend to be more difficult.
The PDT defends the candidacy of former mayor of Belo Horizonte Alexandre Kalil, but President Lula is trying to convince the senator, who joined the PSB at the end of the party window, to run for the Minas Gerais government.
One of the PT’s main allies in the states will be the PSD, the party that confirmed the candidacy of the former governor of Goiás for Planalto. The PT must support party candidates in Rio de Janeiro, Mato Grosso and Amazonas.
There is also the possibility of an alliance with the PSD in Sergipe, where governor Fábio Mitidieri endorses Lula’s re-election.
In other states in the Northeast, the PT works to have more than one platform supporting the president. This is the case of Paraíba, where the party supported the re-election of Lucas Ribeiro (PP), but is working to have Cícero Lucena (MDB), former mayor of João Pessoa, on President Lula’s platform.
The scenario is similar in Pernambuco. Despite the PT’s formal support for (PSB), the party leadership is working to ensure that the president is also supported by the governor (PSD).
The platforms remain undefined in Goiás and Tocantins, where there are doubts about whether or not to launch a candidate, and Maranhão, where there is a split between the PT and governor Carlos Brandão (no party).
The PL is experiencing a scenario of greater uncertainty in the construction of platforms for Senator Flávio Bolsonaro’s candidacy. The party set a goal of launching at least one candidacy for governor in all 26 states and in .
The party has pre-candidates for governor in 12 states, including large electoral colleges such as Rio de Janeiro and Rio Grande do Sul. In 2022, when he ran for re-election for the Presidency, there were 13 candidates.
In recent weeks, the PL sought to reinforce its presence in the Northeast with the membership of Álvaro Dias, former mayor of Natal and pre-candidate for the Government of Rio Grande do Norte, and senator Efraim Filho, who left União Brasil to run for the Government of Paraíba.
Alliances are also underway with other parties in six states and the Federal District. Five of them are from the federation between União Brasil and PP, parties that Flávio Bolsonaro works to bring into his alliance arc.
In Bahia, unlike 2022, the party closed an alliance with the former mayor of Salvador (União Brasil). But the ticket faces friction and is unlikely to walk together in the presidential election.
ACM Neto has endorsed Ronaldo Caiado, with whom he is a friend, in a strategy that seeks to shield him from rejecting Bolsonarism in Bahia. The Senate candidates on the ticket, former minister João Roma and senator Angelo Coronel (), will be on Flávio’s platform.
In Ceará, Bolsonaro’s eldest son even signaled an alliance with the former governor (), but retreated this week and stated in an interview that negotiations are temporarily suspended.
The PL’s support for Ciro Gomes faces resistance from the former first lady, who defends the candidacy of senator Eduardo Girão (Novo) for the Government of Ceará. Ciro was Bolsonaro’s opponent in the 2018 and 2022 elections, with one against the former president.
Another knot to be untied is Minas Gerais, where the party is divided between supporting governor Mateus Simões (PSD), senator Cleitinho (Republicans) and launching businessman Flávio Roscoe, who joined the PL, into government. There are also uncertainties in states such as Pernambuco, Maranhão and Espírito Santo.
In northern states, the tendency is for Flávio Bolsonaro to have double or triple platforms. In Acre, three pre-candidates are competing on the Bolsonarist right: governor Mailza Assis (PP), who allied with the PL, senator Alan Rick (Republicans) and former mayor of Rio Branco Tião Bocalom (PSDB).
Even with the promise of polarization in the presidential election, PT and PL are expected to face each other directly in a few states. Among the pre-candidates launched by the acronyms, the clash only takes place in Rio Grande do Norte, Rondônia and Piauí.
