Rio de Janeiro governor-elect Douglas Ruas has begun assembling his administration with an emphasis on keeping key departments under his own political influence, rather than allowing posts to be divided among allies of Senator Flávio Bolsonaro and other figures in the Liberal Party (PL). Ruas won the election in the first round while Bolsonaro was riding high politically, but the senator later lost the presidential contest, leaving his role in the incoming state government uncertain.
Ruas has chosen political allies for central posts at the Guanabara Palace, including the Civil House, the Government Secretariat, and the department responsible for communications and institutional relations. He also wants to select the heads of major departments such as Education and Health himself, aiming to avoid the allocation of government posts to lawmakers that took place under former governor Cláudio Castro.
Sociologist Maria Gabriela Bessa, currently the state’s Cities secretary, is Ruas’s choice to lead the Civil House. State deputy Jair Bittencourt (PL) is expected to head the Government Secretariat, while Bruno Bonetti (PL), an alternate for Senator Romário, is set to take charge of Communications and Institutional Relations. Governor-elect Fernanda Louback (PL) will lead the Secretariat for Inclusion and Women.
Ruas also intends to support state deputy Anderson Moraes (PL) in the contest for the presidency of the Rio de Janeiro Legislative Assembly in the next legislative term. Moraes is close to Flávio Bolsonaro, but the account attributes Ruas’s backing to the relationship the two politicians developed in the assembly, rather than to the senator’s influence.
One of the first disputes over the new administration concerns Ruas’s plan to end the separate Civil Police and Military Police secretariats. He has described the existing arrangement of three departments—Civil Police, Military Police, and Security—as confusing, and has promised to place both forces under a single security secretary. That person has not yet been named.
Some allies are pressing Ruas to reconsider the change. He argues that returning to the structure used until 2018 would not remove the two police forces’ administrative and financial autonomy, a position contested by police delegates and military officers.
Public safety was a major theme of Ruas’s campaign. He backed police operations and called for removing police lethality from the sector’s targets. On Friday, commenting on the hijacking of buses in the city’s North Zone, he said the government would respond with intelligence, planning, respect for the law, and force.
Ruas has also been in Brasília to meet congressional leaders and seek ties with Supreme Court justices. The transition office is due to open this week at the Federation of Industries of the State of Rio de Janeiro in the state capital.
Sources: Folha Poder.