Haddad dismisses being the PT's Plan B in 2018.

Da Forum Magazine - Former São Paulo mayor Fernando Haddad, whose name is frequently mentioned as a possible Plan B for the Workers' Party (PT) should former president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva be prevented from running in the 2018 election, at least for now, dismisses this possibility. "This discussion is not on the table. Lula greatly appreciates my work as Minister of Education. When asked, he replied that we have qualified people and cited me as an example. This generated speculation, but that is the only concrete fact that gave rise to it. Internally, we haven't discussed it, nor will we," he stated.

He believes the Workers' Party will head the ticket for the presidential election. "What I hear from the party base is that we need a candidate to rebuild. It has to be from the PT. People want the PT to have a candidate under any circumstances," he assesses, even if the party cannot count on Lula. "The PT has votes. It's not bigger than Lula. It once was, but Lula became bigger. It's natural that this happens when you win the election. Can the PT be as big as Lula? At the start, no, but the PT won't have less than 20% of the vote intentions." Regarding a possible alliance with Ciro Gomes, Haddad praised the PDT member. "He's an excellent political figure, he has the country on his mind, but I hope Lula will be the candidate."

The former mayor of São Paulo believes that Lula's tour of the Northeast is not necessarily in search of votes for 2018. "Lula, at this moment, has two tasks: the issue of his honor, which is not specifically related to the campaign. If it weren't for these lawsuits, perhaps this wouldn't be necessary. When your honor is attacked, it's a different situation from other candidates. The caravan is related to what Lula has done in the past. The idea is that if you have nothing to hide, you don't have to fear being in public with people," he believes.

According to Haddad, the PT's need to rebuild itself stems from an internal discussion about the current polarization in national politics. "There will be a difficult discussion, but on two completely different levels, and we will need wisdom to navigate them. The first level starts from the understanding that the country's institutional fabric is frayed and needs to be repaired. On this level, we must have a kind of alliance, strictly speaking, with everyone of good standing who understands that the democratic rule of law is at stake, regardless of the programmatic question of what to do about the crisis, which is the other level."

The Workers' Party (PT) lost 60% of its votes in the last elections, a fact that needs to be evaluated within the party. "What happened in 2017 opens a new field of discussion. It's one thing to be self-critical when you're the only one being accused of practices that have been identified in all political groups. We're going to go through a difficult period, but we'll recognize that there are good people in all parties, but that there are problems in all of them as well. And the discourse depends a lot on the candidate, because it has to have a degree of truthfulness. If it's not authentic, it won't get through," he analyzes.

Doria

The former Minister of Education also spoke about a potential candidacy of João Doria in 2018. "It's impossible to assess who would be a good candidate. Given the passionate atmosphere and heightened social tensions, at a time like this, the worst person in the world could be a great candidate. What I can say is that he will not be a great president if elected. First, because of the work he has been doing as mayor, and second, because of his old-fashioned style. Promising to stay for four years and then abandoning the position, promising to support Alckmin and then going back on his word. He doesn't finish a year before he's out of town campaigning. I've never believed in that type of politician. A person who says they're not a politician, but only engages in politics. This isn't a personal criticism of Doria, but I don't believe in a type of politics that asserts itself by deconstructing what has been done before, rather than by affirming its own project. These are symptoms of an old kind of politics. Let's suppose there's someone I despise in the PSDB, a woman, I would never call her an idiot. It's a very old style of politics. You don't call someone that." "A woman from the tapir, whoever she may be."

*With information from Correio Braziliense