The Leader of the Government in the House, Deputy José Guimarães (PT-CE), reinforced the message of President Lula (PT) and declared that the parties that make up the Government must contribute to the votes in the interest of the Executive.
“I think he (Lula) made a very appropriate speech for the moment in which we live. We must understand that it is not possible for a party to participate in the government and vote against the government here. Nobody wants to force anything, but people must also intensify their efforts,” Guimarães told journalists this Thursday (18).
During the meeting with ministers this Wednesday (17), Lula demanded loyalty from ministers and their parties and declared that the 2026 elections would be “the moment of truth”.
“Next year is the year where we will have the opportunity, not only because we will be in conflict, but because every minister, every party you participate in will have to be in the electoral process and will have to define which side they are on. It will be inexorable for people to define the speech they are going to make. They will have to defend what they think will elect them,” he said.
Among the parties that make up the government, but which do not provide full support to the Executive during the votes, are the PSD, the MDB, the União Brasil, the PP and the Republicans. Guimarães said he was defending a broad front for Lula’s re-election and stressed that there would be an opportune moment to consolidate these alliances.
Guimarães also mentioned the government’s improved relations with União Brasil following the change in the Ministry of Tourism: Celso Sabino leaves the party, expelled from the party in December, and Gustavo Feliciano enters, with the support of almost half of the party’s seats in the House and the approval of the party president, Antonio Rueda.
Although the opposition wing of União Brasil denies that the nomination of Gustavo Feliciano, son of federal deputy Damião Feliciano (União Brasil-PB), comes from the party, the government believes that the name pleases Rueda and the Speaker of the House, Hugo Motta (Republicanos-PB).
This week, Rueda had a meeting with Minister Gleisi Hoffmann (Institutional Relations) and with the president of the PT, Edinho Silva, in another gesture of recomposition. In September the party decided to leave the government and pressured Sabino to leave his post, which he did not do and as a result he was expelled.
“I think there has also been progress with the changes that have taken place. (…) My expectation, based on what happened with the change in União Brasil, (is that) we had to create a base here that has at least the 257 votes necessary to approve the most relevant issues,” Guimarães said.
The government leader also said that, this Tuesday (16), during the vote on the reduction of tax benefits, an essential issue for the government to close its accounts in 2026, there were 310 votes in favor, with part of União Brasil and the PSD voting in favor.
For Guimarães, as these parties did not support Lula in the 2022 elections, having half of the seats is already a gain.
“We had 310 votes. The PSD gave 35 votes (out of 47), União Brasil gave about 30 (out of 59), and so on. I think that if we have this average, 30 to 35 votes from União Brasil, the PSD and the PP, it is a good size. Why? These parties, a significant part of them, made an alliance with the candidate who lost the election. So we have to understand that,” he said.
As shown Leafthe nomination of the new Minister of Tourism came from the most pro-government group of the União Brasil bench, which brings together around 20 to 22 deputies out of 59, and is made up of former minister Juscelino Filho (MA), the leader of the bench, Pedro Lucas Fernandes (MA), and Damião himself.
In a press interview, Sabino said the movement shows that União Brasil has returned to the basis of government. “I think this nomination shows that he has already come back,” he said.
The party intended to support the presidential candidacy of Governor Tarcísio de Freitas (Republicans) alongside the PP, but this possibility faded with Senator Flávio Bolsonaro (PL-RJ) jumping into Planalto. Now the scenario for the federation is open and some of its leaders have started to defend neutrality.
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