On Monday (06/03), Federal Chamber President Arthur Lira (PP) told businessmen that the Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (PT) government still needs time to stabilize itself internally, organize a base in the Congress and find a path to pursue its agendas in the economic area. The statement was made during a meeting with the Political and Social Council of the Commercial Association of São Paulo.
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Still Without Support
Lira said that Lula was democratically elected, but with a minimal margin of votes, and that the government does not have support in this mandate for approving laws by simple majority, much less to advance constitutional matters, as is the case of tax reform, an important objective of this government.
The Current State
According to media sources and political analysts, for the moment, the Workers’ Party (PT) has the support of 223 federal deputies who belong to allied parties, less than half of the total number of deputies in the House. 102 deputies belong to the opposition and 188 declare themselves independent.
However, the scenario can improve, but it demands negotiation with a group of politicians from parties that are not formal allies, mainly from the political group known as the “Centrão”. Analysts believe that PT can still attract around 70 deputies and 10 senators.
Meeting After Lira’s Declaration
On Thursday night (09/03), three days after Lira’s statement about the government’s lack of political support to approve projects in the House of Deputies, President Lula met with him. Media speculated that the event may have been a result of the statement. Important members of the government were present, such as the leader of the government in the Chamber, José Guimarães (PT).
Consolidation
Senator Randolfe Rodrigues (Rede), member of the government, told journalists that he agrees with Lira’s statement that the federal Executive still does not have a consolidated base in the Federal Chamber. However, for him, in the Senate a base of 49 has been consolidated, with possibility to for improvements, reaching 55 senators.
Constitution and Justice Commission (CCJ)
In addition to the difficulties in composing the basis for important votes in the Federal Chmaber, analysts believe that Lula’s government will have to make an effort to get its projects approved in the most important committee of the Chamber — the Constitution and Justice Commission (CCJ).
On Thursday (09/03), it was disclosed how many deputies of each party will have in each commission. Among the total of 64 members of the CCJ, the declared opposition parties have a total of 26 members; independent parties (União Brasil, MDB, PSD) have around 2 deputies; and the “Centrão”, 18. This lets the government fragile, because if only four members of the “Centrão” vote against the government, the PT will not be able to approve its projects.
