The president of the Chamber of Deputies, deputy Arthur Lira (PP-AL), announced this Tuesday (29) the deputy of the Republican Party, from Paraíba, Hugo Motta, as his candidate for the presidency of the House, in an election scheduled for the day February 1, 2025.
“After much conversation and, above all, listening, I am convinced that the candidate with the greatest political conditions to build convergence in parliament is deputy Hugo Motta, a name that has demonstrated the ability to combine apparently antagonistic poles with dialogue, lightness and pride”, said Lira, at a pulpit set up in front of the official residence of the president of the Chamber, in Brasília (DF).
Hugo Motta is the first candidate for president of the Chamber officially launched in the race. Alongside Motta and other allies, Lira said the leader of the Republicans, who is in his fourth term as a federal deputy, experienced the challenges that his administration as president of the House went through.
“[Hugo Motta] will know how to keep the Chamber of Deputies moving forward, following the same recipe that has given Brazil so many good results: respect for the plenary, keeping one’s word and incessant search for convergence”, he added.
Lira also mentioned possible competitors for the position of president of the Chamber, deputies Elmar Nascimento (União Brasil/BA) and Antônio Britto (PSD/BA), who could compete with Hugo Motta in February of next year.
“It would never be up to me, President of the House, one among equals, to curtail the legitimate intentions of anyone,” he stated, adding that he spoke with the two deputies.
“I maintained an open, frank and above all loyal dialogue, and I made just one request to everyone: be viable with the deputies, because without convergence there is no governability. And without governance, the country suffers. The population suffers”, he warned.
Representative Arthur Lira cannot be re-elected because the Constitution prohibits the re-election of President of the Chamber within the same legislature.
Amnesty PL
To avoid contaminating the Chamber election with the bill (PL), which grants amnesty to all those involved in the coup acts of January 8, 2023, President Arthur Lira announced the creation of a Special Commission to analyze the bill (PL) 2,858 of 2022.
The so-called Amnesty PL had been used as a bargaining chip by parliamentarians to grant support to candidates for the presidency of the Chamber. With the creation of the Special Committee, the processing of the matter can take up to 40 sessions of the House plenary.
“The topic must be properly debated by the House. But it can never, due to its complexity, become an undue element of political dispute, especially in the context of future elections for the Board of Directors of the Chamber”, explained Lira.
The president stated that the Commission will strictly follow the rites and deadlines of the Special Commissions, “always with the responsibility and respect that are inherent to this Parliament. Also on this topic, it is necessary to seek the formation of eventual convergence”.
Hugo Motta
Representative Hugo Motta Wanderley da Nóbrega is from João Pessoa, Paraíba. A doctor by profession, Motta has been a federal deputy since 2011, when he was elected by the PMDB. He is currently a member of the Republican party, an acronym linked to the Universal Church of the Kingdom of God.
Motta rapporteur for the so-called PEC of the war budget, which released expenditure on the Covid-19 pandemic outside the spending ceiling. Close to the former president of the Chamber, Eduardo Cunha, Motta was the president of the Parliamentary Inquiry Commission (CPI) that investigated allegations of corruption at Petrobras, in 2015, at the height of the Lava Jato operation.
