Brazil's Workers' Party (PT) decided on Thursday (10), at an emergency meeting of its National Executive in Brasília, to call in a political resolution for fixed terms for justices of the STF, Brazil's Supreme Court, and the other superior courts. The move answers an internal diagnosis that President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva's reelection campaign is at risk amid the crisis that has split the court.
Party leaders concluded that Lula faces a real risk of losing the election to Flávio Bolsonaro (PL-RJ), who has gained ground in the polls since the crisis erupted, according to Folha de S.Paulo. The technical tie in recent surveys has put allies on alert, and several PT politicians interrupted their state campaigns to attend the meeting in person. Party president Edinho Silva, who also coordinates Lula's campaign, called further meetings with the government's coalition parties and with trade union federations.
The assessment, according to Folha, is that the political landscape has changed completely and the national campaign needs a "freio de arrumação", a Portuguese expression for a course correction. "We are talking about expanding the CNMP [National Council of the Public Prosecutor's Office] and the CNJ [National Council of Justice], so that civil society has more seats in the bodies that oversee them. And also the question of fixed terms for the courts," Edinho told journalists after the leadership meeting.
"It is about opening the debate on fixed terms. We did not specify or detail [the proposal]. We have to raise our voice and be more emphatic in what we defend, a reform of the Judiciary, which is a historic banner of the PT," Edinho Silva said in remarks reported by CNN Brasil.
The internal resolution was to be published later on Thursday, according to CNN Brasil. It reinforces the party's call for a reform of the judiciary, opens the debate on terms for the STF and the superior courts, and asks for more seats for civil society in the CNJ and the CNMP, the oversight bodies of the judiciary and of the prosecutor's office. Lula himself had publicly floated fixed terms for the STF months earlier, as Folha reported.
Campaign reaction
Beyond the resolution, the PT is preparing changes in the campaign's tone, according to CNN Brasil: sharper speeches, a focus on public security and education, direct comparisons between the Lula and Bolsonaro governments, more street actions to energize the base and adjustments in the paid radio and TV programs. Historic allies such as social movements and unions complain of apathy and demand a bigger role in the campaign, on the scale of 2022, according to Folha.
The next milestones sit with the court and with the ballot box. The STF's full bench is scheduled to rule on September 15 on the investigation involving Justice Alexandre de Moraes and Vorcaro, the case at the center of the court crisis. The first round of the presidential election takes place on October 4.