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Geraldo Alckmin, the center-right adversary and ally of Lula to defeat Bolsonaro

2022-09-29T10:35:45.939Z


The vice-presidential candidate is a veteran of the PSDB recruited to attract the economic power and the middle class that bet on Bolsonaro


Brazilian vice-presidential candidate and Lula da Silva's running mate, Geraldo Alckmin, during a campaign event, in São Paulo, on September 26, 2022. NELSON ALMEIDA (AFP)

The vice-presidential candidate accompanying Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva in his attempt to return to power in Brazil is another veteran who, like him, has been in politics for several decades.

He was governor of São Paulo, the richest state and economic engine of the Latin American power.

What is striking is that Geraldo Alckmin, 70, and Lula were until a few months ago two adversaries who have shaken each other hard over the years and have said horrible things about each other.

That is why many of his compatriots were speechless.

Was the leftist going to trust one of the great symbols of the classic center-right, a man who supported the

impeachment

of Dilma Rousseff?

The same one who was a candidate in the previous presidential campaign and said at a rally that "after ruining the country, Lula wants to return to power, to the scene of the crime"?

The answer is yes.

He leads as number two the man with extensive experience whom he defeated in the 2006 elections - turns that life gives.

The old adversary is now “comrade Alckmin”, as Lula usually introduces him at rallies.

Together they are presented as the best formula to defeat President Jair Bolsonaro at the polls on Sunday the 2nd and safeguard, or rescue, one of the largest democracies in the world.

If a second vote is necessary, it will be on the 30th. The former president likes to remember that despite the low blows of the electoral skirmishes, Alckmin and he have always treated each other with respect, as adversaries.

Unlike Bolsonaro, for whom disagreeing is synonymous with an enemy.

Born in a city with an unpronounceable name (Pindamonhangaba, São Paulo), Alckmin brings to this marriage of convenience several important things for Lula: closeness to economic power, with which Alckmin had a very close relationship during his many years at the top of the Government of São Paulo (2001-2018) and an image of moderation useful to attract that white urban middle class that in 2018 threw itself into the arms of Bolsonaro out of a desire for change, hatred of Lula and his people, his liberal recipes in economics and promises against corruption.

And, importantly, Alckmin was something of a political corpse when Lula knocked on his door.

In the elections four years ago, his moderate classic right-wing proposal was swept away by the extremism of candidate Bolsonaro: the politician fell in the first round with less than 5%.

Its longstanding acronym, the PSDB (Brazilian Social Democratic Party), the party that alternated in power with the Workers' Party (PT) since redemocratization and until Rousseff's removal, is in decline and did not have him for these elections.

And suddenly, Lula presents himself with the opportunity to touch the dream, not as president of the republic, but as vice president.

He accepted.

Alckmin left his party and joined an acronym further to the left.

This conservative, Catholic man, close to Opus Dei and bland, embarked on the campaign with Lula and began to make jokes about his character and his nickname,

picolé de chuchu

(chayote popsicle, an insipid vegetable).

Even his grayness is complemented by Lula's charismatic optimism.

On the occasions in which Lula has appeared on television during this electoral campaign, when he looks directly into the eyes of the viewers —and of the people—, Alckmin, simply, is one of his important assets.

It is the card of moderation, the ally to reassure the fearful, those who consider it too left-wing, too radical and even dangerous.

It appeals to the enormous government experience that they accumulate together against a Bolsonaro who attacks the institutions and managed the pandemic with negligence or bad faith.

The hard wing of the Brazilian left and the social movements in its orbit accepted the pact with the rightist without too much noise.

Black activists and many dark-skinned voters will also grit their teeth.

They will vote for the duo, although they reproach Alckmin for the easy trigger of the police in São Paulo while he was in government.

Everything is to defend democracy and kick Bolsonaro out.

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Source: elparis

All news articles on 2022-09-29

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