A little more variety. Lula on Thursday completed the formation of his left-wing government with several appointments, including symbolically that of Marina Silva as Minister for the Environment and Sonia Guajarara for Indigenous Peoples, three days before his inauguration. Long negotiations were required to reach this bloated 37-portfolio government, versus 23 for that of outgoing President Jair Bolsonaro.
Since the return to democracy after the military dictatorship (1964-1985), no president-elect has taken so long to appoint all his ministers since Fernando Collor de Mello, who did so a day before taking office in 1990.
Lula’s forthcoming government, which will begin its third term at the head of the country on January 1, places great emphasis on diversity. Gender parity is far from guaranteed, but 11 women have been appointed, compared to just two during the first Bolsonaro government in 2019.
A new ministry
Lula also appointed several African-American ministers, including Marina Silva, 64, who had taken over the environment portfolio during her first two terms (2003-2010) but resigned in 2008 because she felt she lacked the resources to carry it out . She was a three-time presidential candidate (2010, 2014 and 2018), failing in third place the first two times. The environment ministry is crucial in the eyes of the international community, which is concerned about the increase in deforestation in the Amazon under Jair Bolsonaro’s presidency and has high expectations of Lula.
Marina Silva “is the best choice to restore the country’s environmental policy, but she will have to face a much more difficult context than in 2003 and internal resistance within the government,” assessed the NGO collective Observatoire du Climate in a press release.
The Ministry of Indigenous Peoples, which is also fundamental to preserving the world’s largest rainforest, has been entrusted to Sonia Guajajara, 48, an indigenous leader recognized by Time magazine as one of the 100 most influential people in the world. This ministry did not previously exist and its creation was one of the campaign promises made by the left-wing president-elect.
First Council of Ministers “four days” after inauguration
Another influential woman has been appointed to the Planning Department: Simone Tebet, 52, a center-right senator who finished third in the first round of the presidential election and whose vote carryover (4%) was crucial to Lula’s victory in the second round of the presidential election 30th of October. Former volleyball player Ana Moser, bronze medalist at the 1996 Olympic Games, becomes Minister of Sports.
Lula, 77, also announced the upcoming appointment of two women who will head Brazil’s two largest public banks, Caixa Economica Federal and Banco do Brasil.
The first Council of Ministers will take place “three or four days” after the inauguration, the President-elect announced.