The struggle over "rent-a-party" positions reinforces the urgency of political reform.

Valter Lima, from Sergipe 247 – In the absence of political reform that would make the Brazilian party system more honest and modern, parties are multiplying, serving as bargaining chips for all kinds of political maneuvering. With access to public resources and TV and radio time for party propaganda, these parties (rightly called "rent-a-party" parties) are devoid of serious management programs and projects. Recent events in Sergipe corroborate this picture.

After losing control of the PTB to federal deputy Almeida Lima (who was in the PPS, but was elected by the PMDB), the political group of Edivan and Eduardo Amorim (which until then controlled 12 parties) went in search of new parties to boost their political project for 2014. They tried to attract the PHS (so far without success) and managed to get the PEN, one of the newest parties created in the country. In both situations, the modus operandi proved outdated and inconsistent with the current Brazilian political moment.

Regarding the first case, the current president of the party, João Nascimento, said this Thursday (1st), in an interview with radio host George Magalhães, that Amorim's emissaries tried to sensitize the national leadership of the PHS with a financial proposal. “We do not decide on support based on financial agreements. Amorim's proposal is archaic and mercantilist. They tried to sensitize the national leadership from a financial point of view, provided that Amorim's group took over the state leadership of the party. It was not accepted,” he stated.

Regarding PEN, the group managed to remove the president, Professor Bosco, and put someone trusted by Amorim in his place, the lawyer Emanuel Cacho (who was a candidate for senator in 2010 for DEM, on a ticket opposing Amorim). On Wednesday night (31), Cacho even appeared on TV in party inserts, with a speech very similar to that which Eduardo Amorim made in the PSC propaganda in the first semester. Also interviewed by George Magalhães, Professor Bosco lamented the way they removed him from the party leadership.

“We campaigned for our party, highlighting, among other things, the problems left in the health sector by Senator Eduardo Amorim when he was state secretary. He didn't like it, complained to the national directorate, which questioned me about the program and removed me from office, leaving me as vice-president. I participated in building the party in Sergipe. It's not fair. I'm going to court because I believe I have the right to remain president,” he said.

In this Thursday's edition, journalist Cláudio Nunes' blog publishes an exchange of messages between Professor Bosco and the national president of the PEN party, Adilson Barroso, discussing this issue. Barroso's message: “Dear Bosco, among my best friends I made in the PSC is Senator Amorim from Sergipe. I learned that instead of talking about the party's program on radio and TV, you spoke ill of politicians. This is not good for us, because our focus is sustainability and not overthrowing governments, except democratically. You can see that even though you didn't meet the petition goal, I left you as president. But seeing that your experience in this political field is limited, I am changing the presidency and leaving you as state vice-president. I need to elect representatives to be able to defend sustainability.”

Bosco's response: “It's not true that I spoke ill of Senator Eduardo Amorim; moreover, he's neither in government nor governor. I'm working hard with over 20 candidates with the potential to be elected State Representative and three for Federal Representative. Here in Sergipe, I reached the required number of signatures and registered the party among the 9 states needed for the PEN party's national registration with the TSE (Superior Electoral Court). The party and its politicians listened to the cry of the streets and, alerting the political class to the new moment emerging in the national and local political scene, cited healthcare as an example and warned national and Sergipe politicians that they can't continue pretending they didn't go through the Health Ministry and playing to the gallery.”

Beyond these petty political squabbles, what is clear is that the way political arrangements are made is completely out of step with the cries of the protests that have spread throughout the country since June – and which continue to occur almost daily. Edivan and Eduardo Amorim's eagerness to assemble a flashy platform for 2014 only reveals that they make no difference whatsoever in defining allies and the political parties that will comprise their project.

To a lesser extent, what the Amorim brothers do wholesale, other politicians from Sergipe do retail, although with less aggressiveness in negotiation. Lacking any programmatic consistency, the PTB, which was in opposition, migrated to the government, in an arrangement orchestrated by the acting governor Jackson Barreto (PMDB), giving the party's name to Almeida Lima.

In more recent times, the PSDB, which had always been presided over by former governor Albano Franco, was placed in the hands of José Carlos Machado, until then a historical figure in the DEM, to support the project of João Alves Filho (DEM) and avoid surprises in the formation of the alliance in 2012, such as those that occurred in past elections. At the time, the PSDB was in alliance with the PC do B, of Edvaldo Nogueira.

Even during the creation of the PSD, one of the most opportunistic parties in the country, Governor Marcelo Déda (PT) participated in the negotiation that placed the party within the government's base, preventing it from migrating to the group of parties led by Edivan Amorim. Currently the president of the PT in Sergipe, federal deputy Rogério Carvalho is working to ensure that yet another new party, PROS, is led in the state by one of his allies, former mayor Valmir Monteiro.

In other words, within the overall arrangement of dozens of rented party acronyms, most politicians have used political maneuvering to attract these small fiefdoms to themselves, exerting influence over them and, with them, vying for power. This scenario explains why Congress refused to move forward with President Dilma Rousseff's (PT) proposal to carry out political reform by listening to the entire society. It is more than proven that the country does not need so many parties without ideological content.