Businessman and influencer Pablo Marçal (PRTB) promises, in the government plan filed with Brazil's electoral authorities, to keep Bolsa Família, the country's main cash transfer program, if he is elected president in October. The pledge was reported on Monday (24) by Painel, the politics column of the newspaper Folha de S.Paulo, and marks a reversal for a candidate who once promised to end the program and criticized it again during his 2024 run for São Paulo mayor.
The document was filed with the Superior Electoral Court (TSE) last Tuesday (18), together with his candidacy registration. According to SBT News, the 28-page plan is organized into seven "missions" and lists more than 230 items, almost all of them without estimated costs, funding sources or deadlines.
Besides keeping Bolsa Família, the text commits to the constitutional rights of Indigenous peoples, quilombola and traditional communities, land titling, the fight against illegal deforestation and regulation of the carbon market, a package SBT News described as a "swerve to the left". At the same time, the plan promises to reduce the debt-to-GDP ratio, permanently review spending and gradually cut taxes on production, investment and job creation. Marçal also pledges to set the minimum wage as "the best in South America", which would require more than doubling its current value, and proposes a "Ministry of Entrepreneurship", with companies opened through a digital taxpayer ID within 24 hours.
Past criticism
Marçal's criticism of Bolsa Família goes back years. In 2024, still as a pre-candidate for São Paulo mayor, he promised to end the benefit, according to reporting by the news portal FDR. Later, in an interview with UOL and Folha during the municipal campaign, he claimed that recipients of the program are barred from working. The claim does not match the program's rules, which allow beneficiaries to hold formal jobs.
Created in 2003, Bolsa Família was renamed Auxílio Brasil under former president Jair Bolsonaro (PL) and recovered its original name when Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (PT) returned to office. In 2024, the program reached 20.7 million families living in poverty across the country, with a minimum benefit of R$ 600 a month.
Despite the filing by PRTB, Marçal's candidacy remains uncertain. The São Paulo Regional Electoral Court (TRE-SP) this month unanimously upheld the conviction that makes him ineligible for eight years from 2024, over the misuse of media in the municipal campaign, including a scheme known as "concurso de cortes", in which followers were paid to produce and share videos of the candidate. The decision can still be appealed to the TSE.