The national president of the PT, , suggested sending the campaigns for deputy to the party’s state directorates to decide how the funds will be divided. The suggestion caused a strong reaction in the party’s current group, which prefers to concentrate sharing in the national direction.
The idea was launched by Edinho in a meeting with the group of federal deputies about three weeks ago, according to parliamentarians from the party, with the argument that state leaders would have a better perception of which candidates have the best chances and would be worth greater investment. Deputies immediately complained, and the meeting was closed without resolution.
Deputies told the Sheetsubject to the reservation that there is concern that this distribution model will harm them. They say that not all parliamentarians are from the same group as the party’s state leaders. Therefore, they fear being passed over in the sharing, with larger amounts allocated to internal opponents who are linked to the state leadership.
The PT has several internal tendencies. The majority is CNB (Building a New Brazil), more towards the center. There are also minority currents, such as Mensagem ao Partido and Articulação de Esquerda, which are further to the left.
Even within the same currents, there is internal competition and disputes. In this way, those who do not have control or are not a close ally of state leaders fear that they will be left without an electoral fund if the sharing is defined at the state level. The president can concentrate resources on someone from his own group.
According to the design proposed by Edinho, the PT national directory would decide the electoral fund for the campaigns of the President of the Republic, governors and senators. Lula, who will seek re-election, should receive around R$120 million, which could be more if the president does not obtain a high volume of private donations.
Investment for governments and the Senate must be made based on the party’s national priority and the performance of pre-candidates. Edinho’s assessment is that the sharing of federal deputies would be done more appropriately by the state directorates, as they are closer to the electoral bases. This way, they would have a better perception of who has a better chance and deserves a bigger investment.
This year, the parties will have R$4.9 billion in electoral funds, supplied by public resources. The PT was left with R$615.4 million to pass on to candidates for the Presidency, state governments, the Senate, the Chamber of Deputies and the Legislative Assemblies.
Expenses covered by the electoral fund include producing graphic material, promoting content on the internet, hiring staff, renting spaces for events, transport and communication services for candidates.
Currently, the federation made up of PT, PC do B and PV has 82 deputies. The government’s expectation is to bring President Lula’s support bench closer to something close to 100 seats in this election, to increase strength in Congress and make the president less dependent on other acronyms in a new term.
The PT has not yet defined the distribution rules. The matter is being debated in the GTE (Electoral Tactical Group) of the acronym. Criteria will also be established for transfers to female and black and brown candidates.
The division of the electoral fund in . The federal deputy (SP) accused her party of giving preference to new pre-candidates from the party in the distribution.
