Brazilian Workers’ Party president Edinho Silva is pushing for a break with a faction internally nicknamed the “PT centrão,” with the backing of President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva. The dispute could lead to the expulsion of members whom party leaders consider out of step with Lula’s call for renewal and who are accused of failing to support his presidential campaign adequately.
At a meeting of the PT’s National Executive on Thursday, Silva proposed that party officials who had been inactive during the election leave voluntarily. He cited members who allegedly took holidays during the second round, when Lula was seeking to overcome a significant deficit against Senator Flávio Bolsonaro. In his closing remarks, Silva described the alternative as a “litigious divorce,” understood by meeting participants as expulsion.
Silva said he had recently discussed the party’s future with Lula. He argued that the PT should serve as a collective project rather than a vehicle for personal advancement, and called for the formation of a new majority within the party. Participants interpreted his remarks as a sign that Lula had tasked him with confronting internal opponents, with Maricá Mayor Washington Quaquá seen as an early target.
Quaqua, who is also a PT vice-president, rejected Silva’s account and said he had led Lula’s campaign in Rio de Janeiro. He said his son, Diego Zeidan, who heads the PT in Rio, had travelled to Bahia after the first round because a doctor advised him to take four days off after a blood-pressure spike. Quaquá called Silva a liar and an incompetent gossip, and said Silva was afraid to compete with him for control of the party. He also argued that Silva, rather than himself, should leave the PT.
Quaquá has already faced calls for expulsion over controversial positions, including his defense of Domingos Brazão, who has been identified as an alleged mastermind of the murder of Marielle Franco, and his support for a police operation in Rio that left 120 people dead. Those requests have not advanced through the party’s ethics commission. Quaquá did not attend Thursday’s executive meeting, saying it was not the proper forum to assess Lula’s campaign.
The dispute also concerns campaign materials. In September, Silva demanded that PT candidates for the legislature include Lula and majoritarian candidates supported by the party in their campaign material. He threatened to seek the return of electoral funds if members ignored the directive. Reports cited in the account say Lula has kept campaign leaflets that omitted his name and wants those responsible to be held accountable.
Lula has said the PT must respond to messages from voters and remain aligned with its campaign proposals, including reducing the role of congressional earmarks in the federal budget. Party members who have adapted to parliamentary practices associated with those earmarks have been dubbed the “PT centrão.”
Any expulsions could reopen divisions within Construindo um Novo Brasil (CNB), the PT’s largest faction, which includes both Silva and his opponents. The two groups backed Silva in the contest for the party presidency after an agreement brokered by Lula, with Quaquá among those who supported him.
Sources: Folha Poder.