One of the main leaders of the party bloc supporting President Jair Bolsonaro (PL) in the Senate and also an exponent of the ruralist bench said this Friday (7) that the country’s powerful agribusiness sector is pragmatic and will adapt to an eventual victory. by Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (PT).
Senator Wellington Fagundes (PL), re-elected on Sunday by Mato Grosso, Brazil’s largest grain-producing state, told Reuters that he hopes Bolsonaro wins re-election because his policy guidelines are the best for Brazil.
But a change of government would not be the end of the world for the sector, one of the world’s biggest food exporters.
“Farmers will jump on Lula’s lap after the election. They are very pragmatic,” said Fagundes, a veterinarian who has been a member of parliament for more than 20 years in both Legislative Houses of Congress, commenting on the PT’s chance of victory.
Fagundes said he believes Bolsonaro will relinquish power without contesting the result of the second round on October 30 if Lula wins.
“He attacks the electoral system because he is a provocateur,” the senator said of Bolsonaro’s threats against democracy and his statements that the electronic voting system is open to fraud.
Lula was the most voted in the first round of the elections, with 48.43% against 43.20% for Bolsonaro.
The president’s vote surprised analysts riding on a rising tide of conservative sentiment in the country. His pro-gun views and anti-indigenous policies and land claims have made him the darling of the agribusiness sector.
Fagundes said that the result of the first round showed Bolsonaro’s vigor and, with the range of support he has obtained, he is able to turn around on the 30th. “It only depends on him to win”, said the senator, for whom the current chief of the Executive is more in tune nowadays with the sentiment of the population.
The PL, the party of Fagundes and Bolsonaro, has already supported both Lula governments, appointing Vice President José Alencar at the time.
CONGRESS
The right-wing party that now houses the president emerged from the election as the largest caucus in both Legislative Houses of Congress.
Fagundes said that the party will indeed be able to work to nominate a name to run for the Senate presidency, but this discussion has not yet taken place internally because the party’s focus for now is to re-elect Bolsonaro.
Former Minister of Agriculture Tereza Cristina, elected senator by the PP of Mato Grosso do Sul, is one of the names quoted to run for office, according to the parliamentary leader.
One of the articulations in the field, according to a source in the PL command, is to join Tereza Cristina to the party to compete for the Senate command against the likely candidate for reelection, Rodrigo Pacheco (PSD-MG).
Fagundes said that the chances of another Bolsonaro ally, former Minister of Women, Family and Human Rights Damares Alves, elected senator for the Federal District’s PL, running for the party’s Senate command are “zero”.
