The president chose the government leader in the Chamber, the federal deputy, as the next minister of the Institutional Relations Secretariat. The department is responsible for Planalto’s political articulation with Congress.
The decision for Guimarães was taken this week, after consultation from Planalto to the president of the Chamber. The idea is to announce it next Monday (13), with an inauguration ceremony scheduled for Tuesday (14).
The position has been vacant since the departure of the former minister, who left the position to run for the Senate in Paraná. One of the factors that influenced the choice of Guimarães is that he has been leader of the government since the beginning of this term, having the memory of Planalto’s relationship with Congress, and in this way he will be able to continue the work of his predecessor.
Other names were thought of for the ministry before Guimarães. Lula gave up on appointing the executive secretary of the Conselhão (Council for Sustainable Social Economic Development), after reservations from Congressional leaders to choose from.
With his withdrawal, the president began looking for a more experienced coordinator. Noleto has held several positions in PT administrations, but has never held an elective mandate, such as deputy or senator.
According to interlocutors, Lula liked Noleto’s profile, but assessed that the position requires a name with experience in daily politics and knowledge about the balance of forces in Congress.
From then on, the names of Senator Otto Alencar (PSD-BA) and Minister Wellington Dias (Social Development) were considered. Both are seen as people loyal to the government, but with good traffic in the center.
The senator, however, told allies that he could not take on the SRI for a few reasons, one of which was his health. Otto’s plan is to be re-elected senator for Bahia. Wellington, who heads the ministry responsible for programs such as Bolsa Família, demonstrated more willingness to help Lula in the campaign.
SRI takes care of relations between Palácio do Planalto and Congress. The department coordinates agreements with deputies and senators and is also responsible for releasing parliamentary amendments. In this way, Planalto understood that Guimarães would be the ideal name.
A federal deputy in his fifth term, Guimarães is a name close to the president of the Chamber, Hugo Motta. He was also close to the former president of the House, Arthur Lira (PP-AL), and the other leaders of the center.
To interlocutors, Motta praised the government’s choice after being consulted. Center leaders also evaluate the choice positively. They say that, in addition to being a person they interact with daily in Congress, Guimarães does not have the profile to cause surprises. He doesn’t give a “hobby horse”, summarizes a member of the Legislative leadership.
According to interlocutors, another factor that weighed in favor of Guimarães would be the sympathy of the president of the Senate, Davi Alcolumbre (União-AP), for the deputy. This factor becomes more relevant because Alcolumbre’s relationship with the government leader in the House, Jaques Wagner (PT-BA), continues to be strained.
The choice of Guimarães was negotiated for weeks. The deputy planned to run for the Senate from Ceará, and even presented research to Planalto to argue that the PT could guarantee another senator if he ran.
Lula, however, insisted and made the invitation last Thursday (09). Guimarães went to Ceará and held his last negotiations with Governor Elmano de Freitas (PT) and with former Minister of Education Camilo Santana, who was one of the assistants who advised the president to appoint the government leader.
