Reginaldo Lopes: campaign recipe without spending a fortune

The municipal election campaign begins in a few weeks, and for the first time, corporate donations will be prohibited. The Supreme Federal Court (STF) banned the practice that Lava Jato exposed as the root of corruption. Candidates from left-wing parties are beginning to plan what former President Lula defined, at the launch of Deputy Jandira Feghali's (PC do B) candidacy for mayor of Rio, as an opportunity for "a new political experience." Jandira herself has already hired Mídia Ninja to run her online campaign instead of a marketing consultant. Deputy Reginaldo Lopes (PT-MG), the PT's pre-candidate for mayor of Belo Horizonte, is presenting the party with a roadmap for how he would conduct his campaign: solely with resources from the party fund and legal donations from individuals, as now permitted by law. To achieve this, he will abolish the practices that lead to excessive spending in elections: marketing consultants, exclusive polls, a network of committees, printed materials, sound trucks, and paid campaign workers.

 - We have to break with the current Brazilian electoral model, which is bankrupt and unfair. In a democracy, there must be equal conditions in the contest. With corporate financing, whoever raises funds spends more and has a greater chance of winning. Campaign practices lead to inequality in the electoral process. We are going to run a completely different campaign. The PT (Workers' Party) made a mistake; it shouldn't have entered the game, even though the rules were legal and the party had always been a critic of them and a defender of public campaign financing. We are going to start changing this in this municipal election.

To begin with, his campaign would not feature the figure of the marketing strategist, who in recent years has come to dictate the discourse and dynamics of campaigns, a model that the PT (Workers' Party) ended up adopting and paying dearly for. "Marketing cannot override politics," says Reginaldo, recalling that President Dilma Rousseff's own reelection campaign did not follow the PT's guidelines but rather those of marketing strategist João Santana. "That was very damaging," he says.

The campaign ads will be simple productions that will not use special effects and will not feature famous artists and presenters who charge exorbitant fees for their participation. The main protagonists will be the activists, in addition to the mayoral and vice-mayoral candidates, of course. If an artist or celebrity wants to declare their support, they will be welcome, but in the capacity of a citizen.

Reginaldo has also stated that, if he runs for office, his campaign will not use physical materials, abolishing the tons of printed materials that litter the cities, nor will he use sound trucks that produce an unbearable and irritating noise for voters. He also intends to give more emphasis to the internet and social media at the expense of physical campaign headquarters, which increase campaign costs. He plans to hold truly democratic debates online, where voters will have the right to ask whatever they want, with the right to reply if they are not satisfied with the candidate's answer. 

His campaign will also not commission research, neither quantitative nor qualitative, for exclusively internal use. “The best research is street research, in contact with voters, and the research of the voting itself,” says Reginaldo. Instead of paid campaign workers to hold flags and distribute leaflets, he intends to rely only on activists and spontaneous supporters. “Support must reflect a political conviction, an assessment of the candidate's qualities. It cannot be a mercantilist relationship, as has prevailed in recent years.”

The Supreme Court's ban on campaign donations will be tested in this year's election. The major parties haven't spoken about the alternatives they will adopt, but it's certain that those with a strong grassroots base will have an advantage. It's one of two things: either they haven't yet found a solution for the new situation, or they intend to continue receiving donations from companies under the table, which would be a crime if discovered.