Governor Romeu Zema (Novo) ends what is expected to be the last full year of his term as head of Minas Gerais. In August, he declared himself a pre-candidate for the 2026 presidential election and will have to leave his post if he really wants to run at the Palácio do Planalto.
As he sought to become a more nationally known figure by assuming the role of antagonist of President Lula (PT), the governor of Minas Gerais chose his vice president, Mateus Simões (PSD), to lead discussions on relevant topics in the state.
This strategy is part of an attempt to popularize the name of the person chosen by Zema to run for his succession. Both share the same marketer, announcer Renato Pereira.
It was Simões, for example, who was at the forefront of negotiations within the framework of Propag (Program for Full Payment of State Debts), a priority management program this year for the renegotiation of debts with the Union.
Zema’s opponents highlight the month of May as notable, in which the vice governor was questioned for hours in the Legislative Assembly about Propag. Zema was in El Salvador with a delegation from his communications team, for a trip that cost the state coffers R$197,000.
Far-right leader Nayib Bukele’s itinerary in the country gave rise to a series of videos intended for the governor’s social networks, republished in October, shortly after the deadliest police operation in the country’s history, in Rio de Janeiro.
Besides public security, Zema also sought to antagonize the Lula government on economic issues during the year. This was the case with the tariffs applied by US President Donald Trump against Brazil, with Minas being one of the most affected states.
The governor also collected other controversies in 2025 with his statements on the networks and during interviews. He told the Leaf that the military dictatorship in the country “is a matter of interpretation.”
In a radio show, he compared the homeless to cars parked in forbidden places and having to be towed. On social media, he ate a banana with the skin to criticize food inflation in the country and launched a rocket to celebrate a legal victory against the PT.
In national politics, the governor ended the year with an important victory in the Legislative Assembly when the privatization process of Copasa, a public sanitation company, was approved.
Privatizing the company was a campaign promise made during the first election he ran in, in 2018.
The process has only moved forward thanks to Propag’s discussions and a better relationship between the government and rank-and-file deputies, attributed to the new secretary Marcelo Aro, who leads a political group in the state.
Despite the progress made in the Assembly, the Zema government has seen other projects thwarted this year by decisions of the TCE-MG (Court of Auditors).
Among them, the project to grant sections of highways in the metropolitan region of Belo Horizonte, which included the route from the capital to the airport, and the state civic and military schools program.
On December 17, the court of audit confirmed the injunction which suspended a government consultation with 728 schools to assess the possibility of transforming them into civic-military institutions.
The TCE also ordered the government to suspend the adoption of this model, which already exists in nine public schools, due to the lack of specific law and budgetary forecasts for the program.
In this case, Zema and Mateus took to social media to question the decision. They said the court is preventing a choice that should be made by the students’ parents and that the government will appeal.
Another setback for the leadership was the federal police operation that investigated the co-optation of officials by criminal organizations to issue mining permits in areas of historical and environmental interest.
This action led to the firing of employees who worked in the state government’s environmental agencies. Management said at the time that it did not tolerate employee misconduct and that decisions based on illegal acts would be reviewed.
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