Lula justifies alliances: "I wish the left had more strength."

Current Brazil Network - In a press conference given to the alternative press in Pernambuco on the morning of this Friday (25), former president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva sought to justify the formation of political alliances to win elections and govern. Questioned about the presence of Renan Calheiros at public events of the caravan in Alagoas and about a possible support for Katia Abreu in Tocantins, he defended the approach, highlighting that similar compositions were able to make several initiatives viable in his two terms.

"I think it's important that the social movement and the left are concerned about this. When a party like the PT seeks to form political alliances, it only does so because it is clear that, alone, it cannot win elections, and, even if it does win, it cannot govern without a majority in the National Congress. That is the concrete fact."

"I don't want to have a party that does what the Italian Communist Party did for 30 years. It was the best Communist Party in the West, but it never got more than 30%. Here in Brazil, to win, you have to have 50% plus one," Lula exemplified. "I can be like I was in '89, '94, '98, as a left-wing candidate, and we would get 24%, 28%, 30%. In 2002, I told the PT that I wouldn't be a candidate to get 30%, I wanted to be a candidate to win. So, I have to look for where the other 20% are, and I looked for it in Zé Alencar, who represented an important business sector – a highly dignified and decent man – and we managed to surpass the 50% barrier."

Lula spoke about the need for organization so that the progressive camp can obtain more seats in parliament. "The people, the organizations, the labor movement, the CUT (Unified Workers' Central), the landless, the homeless, students, women, LGBT people, everyone has to think about this: if everyone organizes and has the capacity to elect a majority of deputies committed to certain transformations, there's no need for alliances," he argued. "I have to build a majority to vote. I can't talk to a substitute who doesn't have votes. I can't talk to a good guy who wasn't elected. There's a right-wing guy I don't like, but he has votes."

The former president stressed, however, that increasing representation in the National Congress is no easy task. "Women make up 52% ​​of the population. How are we going to build a narrative so that they participate in political life and get elected? Knowing that there are right-wing, reactionary women, we still have to convince people to vote for progressives. That's where the difficulties begin," he exemplified. "When I created the PT (Workers' Party), I imagined that workers voted for workers. It's not like that. Black people vote for black people, homosexuals for homosexuals... It's not like that. Voting isn't automatic, there's no mathematical equation. Voting is an awakening of societal consciousness."

In the interview, Lula also justified alliances made in the past, for example, with the Sarney family in Maranhão. "I am grateful to Sarney. It's important to say that. I am grateful to him as president of the Senate. There was a time when people wanted me to break with Sarney, so I would get Marconi Perillo as a gift. Come on... Are you going to give up a tame little shark to have a new shark biting at your feet?" he questioned. "You have to measure these decisions at each moment. You don't need to make definitive agreements, you can make specific agreements, based on each project."

"I wish the left had more strength, that the PCdoB would elect 50 deputies, that the PSOL would elect 50, the PSTU would elect 50, that the left wing of the PMDB would elect 80. I wish that, but here's the thing: the voter is the one who votes. When the voter votes, we have to submit to the will of the ballot box," he said.