Lula's PT dreams of breaking a taboo and winning the government of the richest state

Lula da Silva, candidate for the Presidency of Brazil, raises the fist of Fernando Haddad, candidate for governor, during a march in São Paulo. MIGUEL SCHINCARIOL (AFP)

Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva makes himself wait.

Both Geraldo Alckmin, his vice-presidential candidate, and his political heir, Fernando Haddad, the candidate for governor of the State of São Paulo, an old dream that has resisted the Workers' Party (PT), are already looking out in the rain this Saturday while the attendees crowd a corner of Paulista Avenue for the last campaign act before the elections this Sunday.

The most tense and polarized in recent times, confront him with President Jair Bolsonaro.

Lula waits in a car until the water gives way, only to appear before a crowd electrified by his presence.

The melody of the catchy

resounds from the loudspeakers , an old

that the left has reissued for these elections, and alternates with chants such as

or

.

Although the PT's color is red, the march down the famous

Augusta becomes a jumble of flags and colors that represents the diversity of the political and social forces that converge in its candidacy, from workers' centrals to feminist groups or the movement black.

All calls are to elect Lula in the

, as the first round is known, to avoid surprises with the retired captain Bolsonaro, who threatens not to recognize the defeat that the polls draw.

The latest poll, a Datafolha this Saturday, places the former trade unionist with 50% of the vote, compared to 36% for Bolsonaro.

Along the way, the coalition left also caresses the possibility of an unprecedented victory if Haddad, who seeks his own political redemption after losing the second round with Bolsonaro in 2018, is elected governor in the richest and most populous state, São Paulo.

Like the presidential ones, the state elections in Brazil contemplate a

if none of the candidates obtains half of the votes.

Haddad leads Datafolha's most recent measurement with 41%, followed by Tarcísio de Freitas, an Army engineer who was Bolsonaro's infrastructure minister, with 31%.

In third place with 22% is the current governor, Rodrigo García, of the traditional Brazilian Social Democracy Party, the PSDB, who only took office last April, after the resignation of João Dória for a failed attempt to run for office. presidency.

The PT is the strongest party in Brazil, but it has lost territorial power since the

that in 2016 removed Dilma Rousseff, Lula's successor in the Planalto palace, from power.

Of Lebanese descent, professor of Political Science, former Minister of Education and mayor of the city of São Paulo between 2013 and the end of 2016, Haddad inherited Lula's flags when he had to give up the presidential race for being in jail for corruption ( the court later overturned their convictions).

He tried as best he could to stop Bolsonaro's advance, but he was unsuccessful.

"Brazil is isolated from the world," Haddad lamented this Saturday in a meeting with the press, shortly before marching shoulder to shoulder with Lula at the end of the campaign.

After four years of setbacks in terms of intolerance against minorities, racism, environmental, health or educational policies, she listed, the situation is critical.

"Lula is going to have a lot of work to rebuild this country," she valued.

"The rejection of Bolsonaro is very great, even in the interior of São Paulo," she explained about the favoritism that the polls give him, both to him and to his political mentor.

In the event that both win, the advantage would be a programmatic alignment between the national and regional governments "in the sense of boosting the economy and combating misery."

Although the State of São Paulo, the largest electoral college, has traditionally been a bastion of the center right, it is also the birthplace of the PT.

A victory would have a very special flavor.

“It is the richest State, dominated since the redemocratization by the oldest and most direct adversary: ​​the PSDB”, points out the politician and analyst Fernando Gabeira.

“The PT had the federal government for 13 years and never that of São Paulo.

It means breaking a taboo and increasing the level of governance through the presence of the same force in São Paulo and Brasilia”, he points out.

In these elections, the PT also has an ace up its sleeve.

Alckmin, Lula's formula, is a historical figure of the center right who was governor for 14 years for the PSDB.

He was Lula's rival in his 2006 re-election, but has now said that part of his job is to help elect Haddad, whom he ran into when he was mayor.

The dispute over the state is headed for a complicated second round, in which it is convenient for the PT to repeat the duel between

and

.

“With Rodrigo García, Haddad would not have space towards the 'center' and would see the entire right reach his rival.

Against Tarcísio, Haddad inherits a large part of García's votes”, says analyst Carlos Melo.

“The governor of São Paulo is automatically a candidate for the presidency of the Republic.

It is the second budget of the country.

That would place the political career of Fernando Haddad once again in the direction of the Planalto Palace”, highlights Melo.

Losing in a close second round, he clarifies, would not be equivalent to the end of his career either, since there is always the possibility that Lula will name him minister if he wins the Presidency, which continues to be the priority.

Lula's redemption, in any case, also passes through São Paulo.

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