Lula approves Patrus Ananias' candidacy for the government of MG

The candidacy has not yet been announced. The federal deputy asked the President of the Republic for a period of time to hold new conversations with PT members from Minas Gerais before publicly announcing that he will run.

The party plans a meeting of PT leaders in the state for the next few days, probably on Monday (20), which is expected to acclaim Patrus Ananias as a candidate.

The announcement of the candidacy, already taken for granted by Lula's allies, will end what was considered by the president's allies as the biggest problem of his pre-reelection campaign: the uncertainty regarding his electoral alliance in Minas Gerais. The state has the second largest electorate in the country.

A historical PT member, Patrus is well-liked within the party, but he was neither Lula's plan A nor plan B for the Minas Gerais government dispute. The head of government needs a strong candidate in the area to give volume to his presidential campaign in Minas Gerais territory.

First, the President of the Republic wanted to launch Senator Rodrigo Pacheco (PSD-MG), who never showed enthusiasm about the possibility. Afterwards, Lula's favorite was the former mayor of Contagem (MG), Marília Campos (PT). She also contradicted the head of the government, and is expected to run for a seat in the Senate.

Furthermore, the PT leadership probed the PDT pre-candidate, Alexandre Kalil, who rejected an alliance with Lula in the first round. Kalil was an ally of the current president in the 2022 election, but the relationship between him and the PT deteriorated in the following months and years.

On June 24, Lula indicated support for the Minas Gerais PT's idea of launching its own candidacy. The measure increased pressure for Marília Campos to run, but she maintained her agenda as a pre-candidate for the Senate.

Patrus's name came up among PT members from Minas Gerais after Marília's refusal, and Lula accepted the suggestion. The deputy indicated to party leaders that he would accept the candidacy. This Wednesday, he had a face-to-face conversation with Lula to make the alliance official.

Now, the conversations will be about who will occupy the vice position and who will compete for a seat in the Senate for the other available spot on the ticket, since Marília Campos will be a candidate for senator in the alliance. Businessman Josué Gomes da Silva and former Attorney General Jarbas Soares, both from PSB, may be part of the ticket.

Patrus Ananias is 74 years old. He was mayor of Belo Horizonte from 1993 to 1996 and minister in the first PT governments. He is in his fourth term as federal deputy.

Now, the PT leadership considers that Lula's last platform without a resolution is from Goiás. The President of the Republic's favorite name to run for local government was deputy Adriana Accorsi (PT-GO), but she indicated that she does not intend to run.

All pending issues in the alliances of Lula and the other pre-candidates for president of the Republic need to be resolved in the coming weeks. The period of party conventions - when parties choose their candidates and formalize their support - runs from July 20th to August 5th.

Lula's main opponent in the presidential election is expected to be senator Flávio Bolsonaro (PL-RJ), who is also having difficulty closing his alliance in Minas Gerais.

A Quaest survey released this Wednesday shows the PT member with 45% of voting intentions for the second round, against 37% for Flávio. The margin of error is two percentage points.

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