The PSB approved today (29) the coalition with the PT in this year’s elections. At the party convention, held in Brasília, the party also approved the name of Geraldo Alckmin as a candidate for vice president of the Republic, on the ticket with Lula (PT). Alckmin joined the PSB in March this year, already in the midst of advanced negotiations with Lula to compose the ticket. Last week, the PT had already made official the plate at your party convention.
A political opponent of Lula in past elections, Alckmin now joins the PT on a ticket considered unlikely a few years ago. In his speech at the PSB convention, the former governor of São Paulo made several criticisms of the current government and stated that Lula’s future administration will be different. “Brazil will have a new command, Brazil will have a new government. And, unlike the current one, the Lula government will bring responsibility, planning, predictability. It will bring back confidence and security. It is hope that comes true, it is reality that approaches a future that is tired of waiting”.
Present at the convention, Lula praised his vice president on the ticket. “Alckmin’s experience and my experience will mean the most important peaceful revolution in this country. First, because we know everything inside and out. Second, because we already know how the tangle of bureaucracy works”. Lula also defended the return of Brazil’s growth. “This country will only have a way to grow again. If it grows again, it will generate employment, GDP [Produto Interno Bruto] will grow and we will have to distribute income, because the poor people need to have an opportunity in this country”.
profiles
Geraldo Alckmin, who was born in Pindamonhangaba, in the interior of São Paulo, is 68 years old, is a doctor and professor. One of the founders of the PSDB, Alckmin was governor of São Paulo from 2001 to 2006 and from 2011 to 2018, running the São Paulo government for the longest time since Brazil’s redemocratization. He is currently a university professor in the medical course at Universidade Nove de Julho and a member of the São Paulo Academy of Medicine.
Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, 76 years old, was born in Garanhuns (PE) and began his political career as a trade unionist in 1966. He was President of the Republic for two terms in 2003, after being elected in 2002, in the second round. of the elections with José Serra. In 2006, Lula defeated Alckmin himself and was re-elected to the post. The first time he ran for president was in 1989, when he was defeated by Fernando Collor de Melo. Before being elected, he tried twice more, in 1994 and 1998, when he lost to Fernando Henrique Cardoso in both.
In 2017, the former president was sentenced to nine years and six months in prison for corruption and money laundering. In 2018, he was arrested by the then judge Sergio Moro. In 2021, the Minister of the Federal Supreme Court (STF) Edson Fachin annulled the convictions, on the understanding that the 13th Federal Court in Curitiba did not have the legal competence to judge the charges, making Lula eligible. In the same year, the plenary of the Supreme Court confirmed the decision.
