Former minister and president of the Federal Supreme Court (STF) Joaquim Barbosa joined the Christian Democracy (DC) party, and can run for President in the 2026 elections. The affiliation took place at the beginning of April, within the Electoral Court deadline.
According to the party’s advisors, some details should be agreed next week, and a press conference is planned in Brasília. Among the pending issues is the definition of the name of Aldo Rebelo, who had his pre-candidacy launched in January in São Paulo.
When contacted, the former minister did not resume contact.
DC is chaired by former federal deputy João Caldas. Without representation in Congress, the party has no right to TV time or participation in debates.
The first black person to occupy a seat at the highest Court of Justice, Joaquim Barbosa, 71, remained at the STF for 11 years (2003 to 2014). During the period, he was the rapporteur of the Mensalão, which sentenced 24 defendants, including Lula’s former Civil House minister, José Dirceu. Since leaving the post, his name has been speculated to run for the Executive position. In 2013, while still at the Supreme Court, he left open the possibility of running for office.
“I currently have no intention of running for President of the Republic. But I may have time to think about it in the future”, he declared in 2013, during an event in Rio de Janeiro.
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In 2018, Barbosa joined the PSB with the intention of trying for the Planalto position, but ended up not being successful as a candidate. In May of that year, he announced his withdrawal in a post on Twitter, now the social network , posted.
Pre-candidate, Rebelo did not score in the polls
The current pre-candidate for President of DC is Aldo Rebelo. The politician, a former member of the PCdoB for decades and currently close to Bolsonarism, launched his name with the party in January this year, in São Paulo. However, since the announcement, his name has not advanced in electoral polls: in the last two Quaest polls, released in April and last week, Rebelo did not score among the ten presidential candidates.
In a video released on social media when he launched his name for the Presidency, Rebelo presents himself as a plural person, and claims to have joined the communist party in the 1970s, “when the left agenda was a nationalist agenda, a democratic agenda, an agenda of the struggle to reduce inequalities”. Since leaving PCdoB in 2017, Rebelo has gone through four subtitles – PSB, Solidariedade, PDT and MDB.
Rebelo defends amnesty for former president Jair Bolsonaro (PL) and everyone else involved in the coup plot. In 2024, Rebelo launched a book in Brasília with the presence of Bolsonaro and the former special advisor of the Institutional Security Office, general Villas Bôas, and was even photographed with the former president.
