Editorial

Ciro and Lula formalize their candidacies, and Bolsonaro Lies About the Electoral System

On Wednesday, Ciro Gomes of the Democratic Labor Party (PDT) became the first person running in the 2022 presidential race to officially become a candidate. Candidacies must be formally launched at party conventions, which kicked off this week. This will be Ciro’s fourth attempt at Brazil’s highest office, but, given the way the electorate has largely polarized between former president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva and the incumbent Jair Bolsonaro, Ciro is more isolated than ever. He has yet to announce his running mate, for example, a position usually used as a bargaining chip to attract other parties into an electoral coalition but that so far has failed to draw major names to Ciro.

While Ciro’s coalition, or lack thereof, seems set, the race remains fluid elsewhere. Prominent leaders of the Brazilian Democratic Movement (MDB) in eleven states this week announced their decision to support Lula in the first round of voting. This exposed a rift in the party over who to align with ahead of October’s election. There is a prominent pro-Lula wing, a sizeable pro-Bolsonaro wing, and a wing that insists on making the party’s own nominee, Senator Simone Tebet, as competitive as possible despite her failure to take off in the polls. For Lula, who has led every poll conducted this year and assembled a large coalition to back his bid to return to the presidency, a divided MDB might be good enough. After all, the MDB is the party of former president Michel Temer, Dilma Rousseff’s conspiratorial vice president who helped eject from office Brazil’s first woman president. Being close with prominent elements of the party while not embracing all of its most problematic leaders might save Lula from having to explain awkward alliances to the party faithful. In any event, Lula has yet to face any serious setbacks to his presidential campaign. He is enjoying international acclaim, a lead in the polls, and willing partners in his attempt to oust Bolsonaro.

Indeed, in a move that many interpreted as tacit recognition that he is losing, Bolsonaro this week summoned diplomats stationed in Brazil from dozens of countries for a meeting about the upcoming election. Presenting fantastical, incomplete, and already widely discredited information about the 2018 election, Bolsonaro sought to call into question his country’s ability to conduct a free and fair election this year. He asked diplomats to report back to their governments that Brazil required new, Bolsonaro-approved measures to ensure a reliable outcome. As several outlets in Brazil and abroad noted, however, the presentation was unconvincing. Even a former firm Bolsonaro ally criticized the presentation as an admission of defeat. Brazilian authorities also rushed to underscore that not only are Brazilian voting machines secure, they are, as a US embassy statement put it, a “model” for the world. Opposition parties like Lula’s Workers’ Party (PT) and Ciro’s PDT are exploring the various ways that Bolsonaro’s speech might have even broken the law. The takeaway from Bolsonaro’s latest stunt seems clear: unable to significantly move the needle so far to raise his numbers and blunt Lula’s, he is resorting to increasingly extreme attempts to discount the probable outcome of this year’s election. These efforts, as the tone of so much coverage indicated, is at once worrisome and pathetic.

Highlights

• MDB SUPPORT: At a national meeting in São Paulo on July 18, eleven ministers from the Brazilian Democratic Movement (MDB) declared their support for the candidacy of former President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (Workers' Party) rather than the party's candidate, Simone Tebet (MDB). "We defend that the MDB should now form a coalition in the first round with President Lula because he is a candidate for strengthening democracy. When he was president, he behaved as such, and that is what we defend," affirmed Governor of Alagoas Paulo Dantas (MDB). Following this news, the Brazilian Democratic Movement released a letter signed by party representatives in 18 states and the Federal District supporting Senator Simone Tebet's candidacy.

• CIRO GOMES: Running on a "pure-bred" ticket without national alliances, former Governor Ciro Gomes from the Democratic Labor Party (PDT) officially launched his candidacy for Presidency on July 20. Despite being the strongest third-way candidate, consistently occupying third place in national polls, Gomes has been unable to forge any meaningful coalitions in comparison to his adversary Simone Tebet, from the Brazilian Democratic Movement (MDB), who has the support of ex-minister Sergio Moro (União Brasil) and ex-governor João Doria, from Brazilian Social Democracy Party (PSDB). At this point in the election, major parties have already taken their stances, either nominating their own candidates or forming alliances.

• LULA LEADS IN 12 STATES: Poder360 website released an analysis aggregating the most recent electoral polls, showing that Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (Workers’ Party) leads the electoral race in 12 states, while Jair Bolsonaro (Liberal Party) is ahead in 7 states and the Federal District.

• DEMOCRATIC REACTIONS: Authorities, institutions, and associations took a stand in the face of the lies spread at the press conference of candidate Jair Bolsonaro. The president of the Brazilian Supreme Court (STF), Minister Luis Fux, met with Minister Fachin, who presides over the Superior Electoral Court (TSE). They expressed complete confidence in the electoral system and the work of electoral judges across the country. Numerous representative associations took a stand, among others: the National Association of Federal Police Delegates (ADPF), the National Association of Federal Criminal Experts (APCF), the National Federation of Federal Police Delegates (Fenadepol), the Association of Brazilian Magistrates ( AMB), and the ABIN State Intelligence Professionals Union (Intelis).

• PT PRESIDENTIAL TICKET FORMALIZED: On Thursday, July 21, the Workers’ Party formalized the candidacy of Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva for the presidency of the Republic at the party's national convention in São Paulo. At age 76, Lula is running for the presidency for the sixth time. If elected, he will be the first Brazilian elected president three times. The day before, in a virtual vote the party endorsed the nomination of former São Paulo governor Geraldo Alckmin (PSB) as the vice on the ticket.

• BRAZILIAN CIVIL SOCIETY IN THE US: A delegation of 18 Brazilian civil society organizations will travel to Washington next week (July 25-29) to participate in meetings with members of the US government, Congressional representatives, and NGOs to defend the Brazilian electoral system. The delegation led by the Washington Brazil Office will also have meetings with Senator Bernie Sanders, members of the Congressional Committee that is investigating the January 6, 2021 invasion of the US Capitol in January 2021 and representatives from the State Department.

Feature Article

Brazil Accession to the OECD: Organization Should Secure Civil Society Contribution and not Neglect Serious Antidemocratic Acts

By Bruno Brandão

Last June, in the context of dismantling public policies regarding the environment, corruption, human rights and democratic governance, Brazil had its roadmap for accession to the Organization for Economic Co-Operation and Development (OECD) approved by the body’s Ministerial Council. This was a missed opportunity to summon civil society and secure non-state actors’ contributions, right from the beginning of the accession process, in the design of the roadmap.

The OECD is an international body dedicated to promoting, above all, economic development through cooperation and alignment to international regulatory practices and standards. Mostly composed of the United States and European countries, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica and Mexico are the only four Latin American members of the organization. In 2022, the OECD began formal talks with Argentina, Brazil, and Peru about joining the entity.

Despite the closed doors process, Brazil’s roadmap approved by OECD Ministerial Council captured important international concern, emphasizing environmental obligations, like zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050, and the strengthening of democratic institutions and civil society.

By contrast, the anti-corruption roadmap was timid and lacking novelty. Standard procedure, however, does not prevent thoroughness in assessing Brazil’s compliance with anti-corruption mechanisms, especially considering the unprecedently vigorous actions taken by the OECD Working Group on Bribery (WGB) to address Brazil’s recent setbacks in the fight against corruption. In November 2019, a WGB high level mission was prepared in record time and visited Brazil to address concern over the paralysis of the country’s anti-money laundering system, after a decision by former Chief Justice Dias Toffoli in favor of President Jair Bolsonaro’s eldest son, Senator Flávio Bolsonaro. He would later be charged with embezzlement, money laundering, and criminal organization — a case recently closed due to the dismissal of evidence. In December 2020, mounting setbacks in the country’s anticorruption legal and institutional framework led the WGB to create an unprecedent sub group to monitor Brazil’s specific situation. And next year, the WGB is expected to carry out phase 4 evaluation of Brazil’s compliance with the Convention against Foreign Bribery, a pivotal OECD instrument.

Overall, the roadmap did not meet expectations for the institutionalization of broad participation by non-state stakeholders in the OECD accession. However, the document includes a comment about technical committees consulting with experts from the candidate country.

Precedent for opening up the accession process to non-state actor scrutiny already exists in several multilateral bodies and processes. We strongly believe that effective participation of Brazil’s highly capable civil society organizations in the process of accession to the OECD can guarantee that evaluations will not only check normative boxes of Brazilian compliance with an extraordinary number of regulations, but can also ensure adequate assessment of implementation and enforcement of practices and policies. This is particularly relevant considering recent setbacks in Brazil’s capacity to fight corruption and environmental crimes, and to protect human rights due to systematic attacks on the autonomy of institutions and to the country’s system of checks and balances.

Also very important, challenging issues should be dealt with promptly, rather than risk being side-lined in advanced negotiations and pushed towards a post-accession phase.

To begin with, to defend democratic values, enshrined in the OECD’s 60th Anniversary Vision Statement, the organization should produce a public statement clearly expressing its confidence in the Brazilian electoral system, currently under growing threat from President Bolsonaro’s government and political allies. Repeated photo-ops of OECD Secretary General Mathias Cormann and President Jair Bolsonaro do not reflect the urgency and importance of this message, either in Brazil or abroad.

We must not forget, however, that the OECD was founded originally as a European organization with the goal of rebuilding a destroyed continent after a democratic breakdown that led to World War II. It is crucial to emphasize the organization’s root values and guarantee transparency, participation and thoroughness for Brazil’s accession to the institution.

Bruno Brandão is Executive Director at Transparency International Brazil
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Feature articles express the opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of the editors or WBO.