Brazil: the presidents of the Chamber of Deputies and the Senate reappointed

MP Arthur Lira after his re-election as President of the Chamber of Deputies on February 1, 2023. AFP - SERGIO LIMA

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A month after Lula's inauguration as president, it was the parliamentarians' turn to return to Congress on Wednesday February 1 in Brasilia and elect their presidents.

A tense vote three weeks after the coup attempt, but which finally led to a

.

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We take the same and start again.

Arthur Lira was re-elected President of the Chamber of Deputies and Rodrigo Pacheco was re-elected President of the Senate.

Despite the alternation and the departure of Jair Bolsonaro, it is the same leaders who have remained at the perch and in charge of the upper house, reports our correspondent in Sao Paulo,

. 

After his election, Lula made a pact with the very powerful Arthur Lira, a conservative who forged strong alliances with many MPs from all sides.

So much so that only two small parties of the right and the extreme left presented a candidate against him.

Result: Arthur Lira was re-elected by an overwhelming majority.

At 53, he is a figure of the "Centrao", a nebula of centrist parties that have been raining and shining in Parliament for decades, most often allying with the government in place, by cashing in their support for posts. important.

But the tightest match took place in the Senate, where Jair Bolsonaro's former minister, Rogerio Marinho, challenged the incumbent, the moderate Rogerio Pacheco.

The latter openly benefited from the support of Lula.

He eventually won a new two-year term, by 49 votes to 32.  

A Congress more to the right than the previous one

Lula hopes to count on his two new allies to fight poverty,

and indigenous peoples.

The new Brazilian Congress, resulting from the October legislative elections, leans more to the right than the previous one, and the left-wing president will have to negotiate constantly with the myriad of parties that make up the country's political landscape.

The 513 deputies are elected for four years, a term which coincides with that of the Head of State.

That of the 81 senators lasts eight years, and that of a third of them begins this Wednesday.

The role of the Presidents of the two Chambers is very important, insofar as they are the ones who determine the agenda.

The President of the Chamber of Deputies is the third person in the country, after the President and the Vice-President.

(

AFP)

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