PT president, Gleisi Hoffmann, said today (1st) that the president-elect, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, chose the vice president-elect, Geraldo Alckmin, to coordinate the transition team for the new government. According to Hoffmann, so far, in addition to Alckmin, former minister Aloizio Mercadante and herself, president of the PT, are only confirmed on the team. Other names will be defined as of next Thursday.
“Geraldo Alckmin is the vice president of the Republic and he has more than legitimacy and political and institutional power to lead this, so the president’s decision [Lula] it was in that sense,” he said at a press conference. “As Mercadante was the coordinator of a government program and has this relationship with our programs, he will be part of the team. And I will also be together on the political side and in the relationship with the parties”, said Hoffmann.
The PT president stressed that all parties that participated in the broad front formed around Lula’s candidacy will participate in the transition team. “I want to make this clear, in this commission, the participation of all the parties that had with us on this journey. The parties that were in the coalition, that made the electoral dispute, will also participate in the transition process”.
Hoffmann noted, however, that participation in the transition team does not mean that those chosen will necessarily be future ministers. “It is also important to make it very clear to you that whoever participates in this transition commission does not mean that they will be a minister or minister,” he said. “President Lula did not open this discussion,” he added.
Budget
The PT president also enumerated the main points that the transition team should initially focus on. According to her, the initial concern is related to the 2023 budget and the government’s fiscal situation.
“We want the contract we made in the elections to be guaranteed in the 2023 budget, what we said we were going to do for the Brazilian people. We want the aid to Brazil to be R$ 600, to have salary readjustments, we are going to discuss these issues. But more than that, we also want to see how the fiscal situation is, because we have little information about it. The idea is to have an overall picture.”
According to the PT president, the Chief of Staff, Ciro Nogueira, confirmed that the President of the Republic, Jair Bolsonaro, determined the beginning of the government transition process. “I spoke yesterday with the Chief of Staff, Senator Ciro Nogueira. He told me that he is available, that it was a determination of the president [Jair Bolsonaro] of installing the transition process, that I could give him the names for them to make the appointments”, he said.
