Ministers engage for Bolsonaro’s re-election and campaign on social media

In search of a boost in voting intentions for Jair Bolsonaro (PL), the main ministers of the government responded to the appeals of the campaign and the Chief Executive himself and engaged in the defense of the candidate for reelection in interviews and social networks.

The campaign committee, led by Senator Flávio Bolsonaro (PL-RJ), recommended that internet postings of any content, including excerpts from interviews, be made on personal pages so as not to violate the restrictions imposed by electoral legislation.

Minister Fábio Faria (Communications), who took over the front line of this task force, and Ministers Ciro Nogueira (Casa Civil), Paulo Guedes (Economy), Adolfo Sachsida (Mines and Energy) and Marcelo Sampaio (Infrastructure) were summoned. .

The last three, from technical portfolios, now have the mission of defending the measures already taken, contrasting with the management of the PT whenever possible. Another guidance given to this group was the use of economic data with the objective of boosting the government’s assessment.

Initially, the strategy did not work out exactly as the reelection committee had hoped. But as time passed, ministers began to engage in the campaign.

Guedes also intensified his participation in the debate. Last Wednesday (14), he said in Rio de Janeiro that on the other side of the presidential race “there is the devil”, in reference to former president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (PT), which was seen by members of the do Planalto as Guedes’s toughest attack on the PT since the beginning of the elections.

Guedes also used the state radio and TV structure in the middle of the presidential campaign to praise the government’s performance in the economy. With a 24-minute interview on the Voz do Brasil program, the government and the minister may have even violated the electoral law.

The program is mandatory for all radio stations in the country and was also retransmitted in video by the state-owned TV Brasil.

The performance of the Minister of Economy has pleased the president’s campaign strategists, including the answers about the lack of funds for social programs in 2023, mentioning that the government will find a way to implement the initiatives (even without explaining how).

On the networks, the campaign atmosphere took over the ministers’ profiles since the end of August. The day before September 7, Faria criticized a UOL report about the purchase of real estate by members of Bolsonaro’s family with cash. “You can’t do a story like this 30 days before the election,” he wrote.

Then he attacked the polls released by Quaest and Ipec, both unfavorable to Bolsonaro. He also defended the participation of First Lady Michele Bolsonaro in the campaign after restrictions imposed by the TSE (Superior Electoral Court) and openly criticized Lula.

Close to Bolsonaro and one of the first to engage in the campaign, Minister Sachsida began to celebrate on the networks the drop in fuel prices and inflation. He has also defended economic measures, published photos with prices at gas stations, criticized the PT and has already said that Bolsonaro will win in the first round.

“If it were up to Lula, Brazilians would be paying more for gasoline, ethanol and diesel. Besides, the electricity bill would be more expensive!!!”, he wrote.

More discreet in the offensive, Sampaio tries to reinforce the positive image of the government through videos and images of the works delivered by the Ministry of Infrastructure. The head of the portfolio also reverberates the speech of the government summit on the “thriving” economy of Brazil, emphasizing data repeated several times by Guedes.

Sampaio has already interacted with pages of influencers who support Bolsonaro, such as Kim Paim and Barbara, from the Te Atualizei channel — which was among the YouTube profiles prevented from raising funds for the platform by decision of the TSE in 2021.

The Minister of Infrastructure says he is “oriented by respect for electoral legislation, having, as a citizen, guaranteed the guarantee of free expression in his personal networks”.

Ministers can violate the electoral law and practice administrative improbity if they use the state structure to favor the candidate for reelection, which experts say was the case with Guedes in Voz do Brasil.

“It is a mandatory program, repeated by all radio stations in the country. You are forcing that interview to be shown by all stations in Brazil. We clearly have something that unduly unbalances the electoral dispute, which would constitute an abuse of political power”, stated Volgane Carvalho , secretary general of Abradep (Brazilian Academy of Electoral and Political Law), in a recent interview.

Some analysts also see problems in the mere presence of Guedes at events with businessmen when he makes attacks on Lula and promises for a new term – which could represent an abuse of political power.

Marcelo Vitorino, professor of political marketing at ESPM (Escola Superior de Propaganda e Marketing) who led Marcelo Crivella’s (Republicanos-RJ) campaign for mayor of Rio in 2016, considers that the ministers’ stance is no different from the behavior of previous governments. .

“If it is a personal production or if the minister is simply sharing the production of his candidate’s campaign, there is no problem. I even think it’s normal for a member of the government to defend the continuity of the government to which he belongs,” he said.

According to the TSE, the publication of praise or criticism of candidates, made by voters on a personal page, is not considered electoral propaganda.

Gustavo Guedes, a lawyer specializing in electoral law, sees no need for an additional limitation on political agents in the use of their social networks for exercising public functions.

“Just as I understand that influencers, football players, singers, pop stars have the right to freedom of expression, they can use their networks to position themselves, I don’t see a restriction on any holder of public office not to be able to use their networks to speak the to understand properly”, he said.