The power of old ideas

The DEM's new look doesn't suit them. It's unconvincing. It remains the same old colorful outfit on the outside, but colorless, conservative, and authoritarian on the inside. Weakened, the DEM is faded by the history it carries in its very name: ACM Neto, Rodrigo Maia, Fábio Souto, among other offspring of the dictatorship.

The party is betting everything on Salvador. From being hegemonic in the state, the DEM now governs only 11 municipalities in Bahia. To make matters worse, the party has adopted the strategy of concentrating its efforts on a few candidacies nationwide. This represents a drastic reduction in its political leadership, but, mainly, the conscious act of playing with the cards it can trust and monitor.

For the Bahia DEM party, the only option left was Salvador. With control of the party, federal deputy ACM Neto conditioned his support for José Serra in São Paulo on reciprocity from the Bahia PSDB. No problem. Federal deputy Jutahy Magalhães (PSDB) learned the meaning of subservience well from his grandfather. After all, the phrase "What is good for the United States is good for Brazil" is attributed to former governor Juracy Magalhães. In other words: What is good for São Paulo is good for Bahia.

Perhaps the dilemma for the PSDB (Brazilian Social Democracy Party) lies with the former mayor of Salvador, Antônio Imbassahy. Without the electoral support of the federal deputy in the city, the PSDB in Bahia offers what the DEM (Democrats) also demands in São Paulo: television time. In the past, specifically during the FHC (Fernando Henrique Cardoso) and ACM (Antônio Carlos Magalhães) periods, the relationship between the two parties was viewed as a one-off affair. This has changed. Over the years, both sides have exerted a strong influence on the profile of each party. On the one hand, the PSDB absorbed the conservative agenda of the DEM. On the other hand, the DEM incorporated the neoliberal state proposal of the PSDB.

The new ideas of the DEM party for Salvador are the same as the old ideas of the PSDB party for São Paulo. The election there is connected to the election here. And, just like there, between Fernando Haddad (PT) and José Serra (PSDB), the natural polarization here is between Nelson Pelegrino (PT) and ACM Neto (DEM). In the subtext of both contests, the PMDB party of Gabriel Chalita and Mário Kertész could be the winner. But that's another story for a future commentary.

Sócrates Santana is a journalist.