2024-01-14 11:00:00
Marcelo Camargo/Agência Brasil – 06/13/2017 and Marcello Casal jr/Agência Brasil – 08/28/2018
Marta Suplicy will be vice-president on Guilherme Boulos’s ticket
The alliance between Marta Suplicy (no party) and Guilherme Boulos (PSOL-SP) in the dispute for mayor of São Paulo could help define the future of the Brazilian left as a whole, according to an analysis by experts interviewed by the report.
This week, Marta agreed to return to the Workers’ Party (PT) and become a candidate for vice-mayor of São Paulo on the ticket led by Boulos. The union, which was discussed between the two involved in a meeting this Saturday (13), represents extra strength for the psolista’s campaign, which is already leading the polls of voting intentions in the capital of São Paulo.
If the ticket emerges victorious, Boulos should gain even more national recognition, becoming a stronger name on the Brazilian left, capable of occupying the space that should be left by Lula on the political scene in the coming years.
Marta can pull votes
Back at PT, Marta is able to bring votes to the ticket, helping Boulos’ victory. The future candidate for vice mayor was already mayor of São Paulo between 2001 and 2004, a term she ended with 49% approval, according to a Datafolha survey released at the time. At the time, 61% of São Paulo voters thought the city was better than before Marta took office.
It was under Marta’s administration that the city achieved some important achievements, such as the implementation of the Bilhete Único and the creation of the Unified Educational Centers (CEUs). “Marta joins this ticket with Boulos, causing votes from the periphery, where she has a good dialogue, to be less dispersed. It is an attempt to prevent these votes from going to other candidates”, analyzes Glauco Peres, professor at the Department of Political Science at the University of São Paulo (USP).
The possibility of Marta taking votes for other candidates has already occurred previously. In the last elections in São Paulo, in 2020, she gave up her pre-candidacy and joined Solidariedade to support the then candidate Bruno Covas, from PSDB. After Covas’ victory, Marta took over the municipality’s Secretariat for International Relations, a position she held until last week, when she was dismissed to join Boulos’ ticket.
Since leaving the PT, in 2015, in the midst of Operation Lava Jato, Marta has worked for the MDB and Solidariedade, and followed paths contrary to the party to which she must now return. In 2016, as a senator, she voted to impeach then-president Dilma Rousseff; in 2018, during the presidential elections, she called the then PT candidate and current Finance Minister, Fernando Haddad, “the worst mayor” in the history of São Paulo.
“Marta still has the capacity to mobilize votes, she is a remembered and well-known name. Her being part of the other team was bad for the left, so the PT recognized this and brought her to occupy this place on the ticket with Boulos”, comments Glauco.
Now, Marta must return to the PT after a meeting with President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, held last week. In addition to bringing votes to the ticket led by Boulos, she also has what critics say the psolist lacks: experience in public administration. “Having Marta as vice-president is a kind of vaccine, trying to deconstruct in advance the criticisms that, perhaps, could be made to Boulos regarding lack of experience in the Executive”, comments Rodrigo Prando, professor at the Center for Social and Applied Sciences at the Presbyterian University Mackenzie.
Post-Lula politics
With a good chance of winning the elections in the capital of São Paulo, the ticket resulting from the alliance between Marta and Boulos could not only define the direction of the city, but also of Brazilian politics as a whole, experts analyze.
The PT’s support for Boulos in these elections is the result of a commitment made by the party in 2022, when the psolist did not run for president of the Republic, supporting Lula and avoiding a division of votes on the left in the fierce dispute against Jair Bolsonaro (PL).
This is also a strategy by the party to try to regain space in São Paulo city hall after opposition to Lula became strong in the city, says Glauco. Since 2016, when Haddad left command of the capital of São Paulo, the PT has not been able to return to the municipality’s Executive, and one of the reasons is the lack of an impactful name. In the last elections, the party’s candidate, Jilmar Tatto, came in fifth place, with 8.55% of the votes.
Despite being necessary given the current situation, giving up on having its own candidate for mayor of São Paulo is “very difficult” for the PT, analyzes Rodrigo, since the party “always wants to have hegemony over the electoral process”.
If on the one hand the alliance with PSOL is a way for the left to return to São Paulo city hall, on the other it is the possibility for PSOL to give strength to the name of Guilherme Boulos, which could become the strongest on the left, since the PT There is no obvious successor to Lula, who will already be over 80 years old in the next presidential elections.
“The PT is a party that organizes the electoral field on the left and, today, the PT depends a lot on Lula. So, when the PT gives up launching its own candidacy in São Paulo to have a vice president and support the PSOL, the opportunity for a relative weakening of the PT as the party that organizes the field”, analyzes Glauco.
“It’s all still very early, obviously, but these aspects should already be observed given the fact that Lula is expected to leave the political game soon, including due to his age. The parties are already starting to think about what the electoral world will be like post-Lula, how this space will be occupied. And, as the PT has not renewed itself and does not have a natural successor, an obvious name, this opens up space for other parties, weakening the PT itself”, he continues.
“PSOL has clearer names, like Guilherme Boulos himself. From this point of view, this alliance between PT and PSOL in São Paulo is quite advantageous for PSOL. If this ticket wins the elections, Boulos will jump in and his national projection will be natural. We know that this whole process is not so simple, but winning an election in the city of São Paulo is no small feat, especially because it is where the PT emerged, became stronger and made history”, he adds.
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