The group of senators closest to President Lula (PT) is looking for a way to postpone the vote on the project that reduces the sentences of those found guilty of the coup process and benefits former President Jair Bolsonaro (PL) until 2026.
The discussion marks a new dispute between this sector and the President of the Senate, Davi Alcolumbre (União Brasil-AP), who expressed his desire to put the project under deliberation as quickly as possible – and, initially, directly in plenary, avoiding the CCJ (Constitution and Justice Commission).
Alcolumbre and the government have experienced a series of disagreements since the appointment of the Attorney General of the Union, Jorge Messias, to the STF (Federal Supreme Court) in place of Senator Rodrigo Pacheco (PSD-MG).
Senators close to the President of the Senate say they want to submit the project to a vote to put an end to discussions around amnesty and start the year 2026 with other issues on the radar.
At the very moment when his allies are trying to postpone the deliberation of the proposal in Parliament, the President of the Republic is considering vetoing it.
One of the main beneficiaries of the project is Bolsonaro, sentenced to 27 years and 3 months in prison for attempted coup d’état. The text could reduce the time the former president must spend in a closed regime. This duration is currently estimated between 6 years and 10 months to around 8 years. The project could be reduced to 2 years and 4 months.
In addition, the text would allow for the immediate release of those sentenced to lesser sentences as part of the coup process.
The House approved the proposal by 291 votes to 148 in the early hours of Wednesday (10). Even before its approval, Alcolumbre said he had committed to putting the proposal up for a vote soon after lawmakers approved it. Now, even those around him are having trouble keeping to this schedule.
The idea of the President of the Senate was to encourage the deliberation of the project directly in plenary, in an express process. The maneuver was made impossible by the president of the CCJ, Otto Alencar (PSD-BA). Otto made a strong statement defending the need for prior analysis by the commission and was supported by several influential senators.
“President, are you going to deliberate this year? Leave from there, come here and vote? Let me disagree, because it is not possible that this will not go through the Constitution and Justice Committee. It has spent a lot of time, months, there (in the House). Are you going to come here and vote immediately?”, he said on Tuesday (9).
The proposal is expected to start being discussed at the CCJ next Wednesday (17). It is necessary that the project be voted on the same day by the commission for Alcolumbre’s wishes to be granted, but regimental maneuvers can be used to try to postpone the deliberation.
The leader of the government in Congress, Senator Randolfe Rodrigues (PT-AP), declared that there would be a request for revision of the project, that is, more time for analysis. If government officials manage to delay the vote for a week, the most common deadline for review requests, the vote will not be made public until the 24th. With the Senate already in recess on that date, the vote is expected to take place until next year.
“The visa can be granted for two hours, or four hours, it can be for an additional week. Then you will not be able to vote this year, it will only be after the holidays,” said the CCJ president.
He also spoke out against reducing sentences: “I thought I shouldn’t change anything at all, but I leave it to what the majority decides.”
On Wednesday, the president of the CCJ appointed Esperidião Amin (PP-SC) as rapporteur of the project. Amin is a traditional right-wing senator who has moved closer to Bolsonarism in recent years.
The senator now faces the risk of losing the group’s support in his quest for re-election in Santa Catarina in 2026, which is expected to bring Carlos Bolsonaro, son of the former president, to compete for one of the state seats.
He said he favored a full amnesty for those convicted in the coup process and said whether to grant it would be a political decision by Parliament. Reporting on the proposed sentence reduction could help increase Amin’s popularity among Santa Catarina’s large Bolsonarista electorate. The agenda is dear to this political group.
On Wednesday, Minister Gleisi Hoffmann (Secretariat for Institutional Relations) questioned ministers and party leaders to question her fellow MPs’ vote in favor of the proposal which benefits Bolsonaro.
Supporters of the government demonstrated against the project in the Senate throughout the day on Wednesday. The leader of the PT in the Senate, Rogério Carvalho (SE), for example linked the reduction of sentences to the presidential pre-candidacy of Flávio Bolsonaro (PL). He also mentioned the governor of São Paulo, Tarcísio de Freitas (Republicans).
“All this seems to me, I cannot accuse him, that it is to respond to a pre-candidacy of Tarcísio de Freitas and for someone to withdraw his candidacy in exchange for dosimetry, for amnesty,” Carvalho said, referring to the fact that Flávio had declared that he could renounce his candidacy if his father was released from prison and able to run in the presidential election.
The proposed sentence reduction was blocked for months in the House because the Bolsonaristas demanded a total amnesty. The proposal only moved forward when the PL, Bolsonaro’s party, decided to support it. This support came after the launch of Flávio Bolsonaro’s pre-candidacy for president.
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