The division of ministries between nine parties in the name of governance is unlikely to have any effect at the beginning of the government of Presidentelect Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (PT), according to politicians and experts. Besides the PT itself, the main parties involved were MDB, PSD and União Brasil. Each of the acronyms nominated three ministers.
The choice of center parties — not just the acronyms that helped him vote — is Lula’s attempt to form a government capable of more easily approving the issues he has to negotiate with Congress.
An example is the União Brasil. Lula handed the party the ministries of communications, tourism and integration, and regional development the latter will remain with the current governor of Amapá, Waldez Góes, who will leave the PDT for the União Brasil and whose name was given by Senator Davi Alcolumbre (União Brazil AP).
The party has one of the largest benches in the chamber 59 deputies. Although the future government was helped to approve the overflow PEC, coordination with the PT administration is not automatic.
The leader of the party, Luciano Bivar, claims that the União Brasil does not sit at the grassroots level of government. “We have this special homage to the President, but the party remains independent. This is the position for now and when the time is right we will talk about it,” he said R7.
The PSD, which elected 42 MPs for the next legislature, remained neutral in the elections but will form Lula’s base in the House of Representatives. “The temperature in the PSD is favorable [a Lula], but that doesn’t mean the party will approve of everything. As in the Bolsonaro government, we are committed to the guidelines that are good for Brazil,” commented MP Darci de Matos (PSDSC), deputy party leader in the chamber.
Economist Gil Castello Branco, founder and president of the nongovernmental organization Contas Abertas, estimates that the result of this distribution should appear in the first three months of his term in office, if the government is still adjusting its structure.
“Even if they tackle this together, there are opposing positions within the parties themselves and the obstacles are likely to persist. It might be a bigger support, but it’s not something that’s already resolved,” he says. “We will see that test of governability there around March, to what extent the parties consider themselves satisfied, but we know that not everyone is satisfied,” he concludes.
For the lawyer and political scientist Nauê de Azevedo, even if Lula has opened the dialogue and considered the centrist parties, there are no guarantees that the Esplanada dos Ministérios allocation will be reversed in the votes in Congress.
“The composition of ministers could be key in this first moment to help the new government create dialogue bridges to have a majority on nonconstitutional issues. But even then, it will be necessary to reconcile interests with other important parties that are not part of the formal basis of government at that first moment,” he analyses.
second season
The PT intends to place allies in the second squadron’s formation from now on. Party leader Gleisi Hoffmann said parties that were left out in that first moment such as Avante, PV, Solidariedade and PROS will continue to be looked after.
“We will now start the discussion of the composition of the second season. No ministry is a closed door. It will always have a composition, the President has asked us to do that, and these parties are our priority,” he explained to Gleisi.
According to the Presidentelect, a meeting with all ministers will be scheduled to agree government expectations for each area. Subsequently, this articulation will be with the governors. “So we can share the build, finance, and labor,” Lula explained.