Lula: "Brazil's inferiority complex is over"

247 - “What I’ve noticed here, Emídio, is that there are no voters for any other candidate, only your voters,” former President Lula began, addressing the former mayor of Osasco, Emídio de Souza. “I won’t mention your name, (Alexandre) Padilha (Minister of Health), because every time I talk about elections, I get fined. I already received a fine of 20 reais and had to pay it with my own check, not the party’s,” Lula said, amusing the audience of over a thousand supporters at the Casa de Portugal in São Paulo.

Shortly before Lula spoke, the announcer reported an anti-PT demonstration at the entrance to the venue. Information came in that the intervention of the Military Police riot squad was necessary to disperse the protest. 

Lula praised President Dilma Rousseff's speech at the UN earlier in the week. "The world has to understand that Brazil's inferiority complex is over," Lula stated. He was careful not to prematurely campaign for Minister Padilha, the party's likely candidate for governor of São Paulo next year. But, in the end, he couldn't resist and asked everyone to vote for his protégé.

"Everyone thinks I'm interfering in the PT elections in São Paulo, but I don't like to get involved in that," said Lula, eliciting laughter from the audience. "But in Emídio's case, with all due respect to the other four candidates for the position, I have to say: you are our candidate." 

Below, previous news item.

247 - Health Minister Alexandre Padilha avoided publicly announcing his own candidacy for governor of São Paulo in 2014 during the launch of former mayor Emídio de Souza's candidacy for the party's presidency in the state. Before he spoke, Emídio himself requested the right to call Governor Geraldo Alckmin when the votes are counted next year to say, "Clean out your drawers!" Minister Padilha, however, was more cautious. "You can go looking for his phone number, but not to say 'clean out your drawers,' but to ask him to start assembling the transition team, because we will be arriving soon."

At 22:23 PM, the floor was given to former president Lula.

247 - In front of an auditorium packed with over a thousand PT (Workers' Party) militants, the former mayor of Osasco, Emídio de Souza, praised the Minister of Health, Alexandre Padilha, as "a guy who really wants to win the election." To defend the presence of a businessman from outside the PT on the ticket that Padilha will head for the São Paulo state government, Emídio recalled: "There's something President Lula said in 2008: 'I'm not going to run for election to get 35 percent of the votes, but to get more than 50 percent.'" Based on this memory, the candidate launched on Friday night, the 27th, for the presidency of the PT in São Paulo defended the participation of a businessman on the party's ticket. Emídio de Souza is the clear favorite to win the party's election, which will involve direct votes from party members.

After praising Padilha and Lula, Emídio began to harshly criticize the PSDB. "A party that, in 20 years of power, built an average of 1,7 kilometers of subway per year, doesn't have the competence to govern São Paulo." He made a comparison, addressing Lula. "The CDHU (Urban Housing Development Company) was created 27 years ago in São Paulo, having built 550 housing units. The 'Minha Casa, Minha Vida' program, created by you four years ago, will have built 3 million homes this year." Emídio separated the volume of social housing created by the PSDB in São Paulo in the last 20 years from the 'Minha Casa, Minha Vida' units installed only in the state. "They built 20 houses per year. We built 90."

Emídio stated that he has so much support within the party that he is afraid of losing the election. "If I lose, it's because I'm very bad," he joked. He then asked for the vote of former president Lula and Minister Padilha. Coordinator of the campaign of the current Minister of Education, Aloízio Mercadante, for the government of São Paulo in 2012, Emídio recounted that he was tasked by the candidate with calling then-candidate for governor Geraldo Alckmin to congratulate him on his victory. "Next year, Padilha, I want you to let me be the first to call him again. So that I can say: Alckmin, start cleaning out your drawers now!"

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247 - At 20:22 PM, amidst shouts of "olé, olá, Lula, Lula," former president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva took to the stage set up at Casa de Portugal in downtown São Paulo, where the candidacy of former Osasco mayor Emídio de Souza for the state presidency of the party is being launched on November 10th. Before him, also in a festive atmosphere, the Minister of Health, Alexandre Padilha, the party's likely candidate for governor of the state in 2014, was received.

"Padilha should leave the ministry between the end of this year and the beginning of next year, not much later than that," said Emídio, the clear favorite to win the PT's internal elections. "President Dilma asked Padilha to stay until the implementation of the Mais Médicos program. After that, he'll go to work in São Paulo," he added. According to him, the ministerial duties would congest the future candidate's schedule.

In their opening speeches, mayors and deputies from the party stressed that 2014 will represent the best chance for the PT (Workers' Party) to win the government of São Paulo. "The PSDB (Brazilian Social Democracy Party) is tired," said party leader Gerson Bitencourt. "Besides, they are mired in a sea of ​​corruption." The corruption surrounding the multinational companies Alstom and Siemens in the state's public transportation sector will undoubtedly be a recurring theme in the PT's campaign.

The state president of the PT (Workers' Party), Edinho Silva, stated that "nothing is more important to us than building Padilha's candidacy in São Paulo." He reminded everyone that the party has 686 city councilors in 356 municipalities in São Paulo state. The party only lacks party branches in four cities in São Paulo. "I will convene our executive committee to deliver to you, Emídio, the party organized in all municipalities of São Paulo."

Below, previous news item:

Marco Damiani _247 – Surrounded by nearly a dozen journalists, and with an auditorium packed with about a thousand people waiting for him, the former mayor of Osasco, Emídio de Souza, anticipated early this Friday evening, the 27th, at Casa de Portugal, in the center of the São Paulo capital, the tone that the PT will adopt in the dispute for the government of the richest state in the Federation, São Paulo, with its budget second only to that of the Union: it is a frontal attack on the PSDB and its virtual candidate for re-election.

The Workers' Party (PT) has named the calendar for direct elections for all levels of party leadership, from the national directorate to the state and municipal levels, PED 2013 – the Direct Election Process. Party strategists believe these elections will mobilize the party's activists and prepare them for next year's contests. 

"Geraldo Alckmin joined the government of São Paulo on January 1, 1995, along with Mario Covas," Emídio recalled, moments before his name was officially launched as a candidate for president of the PT in São Paulo. "Alckmin is, therefore, responsible for all the incompetence that the PSDB practiced in São Paulo."

In addition to an audience comprised of activists from dozens of party branches, union members, and parliamentarians, Emídio will have former president Lula and the Minister of Health, Alexandre Padilha, by his side, who were expected to participate in the political event at 19:25 PM. The three-time former mayor of Osasco is the clear favorite to win the internal elections within the PT (Workers' Party).

According to Emídio de Souza, the party should conduct next year's election campaign on two fronts: highlighting the achievements of Minister Padilha, who already has the support of the majority of the party to run for office, and strongly criticizing the PSDB administration and Governor Alckmin.

"Alckmin can't say he has nothing to do with the schemes set up by the PSDB governments in São Paulo. He's a central figure in all of this," declared the future state president of the PT. "A 20-year government that builds 1,4 kilometers a year, that failed to resolve the public health situation in the state and didn't know how to forge partnerships for development, doesn't deserve to continue. It's this incompetence that will be judged at the ballot box."

The candidate is excited. "The OPT has only grown," he says. "We had 28% with Genoíno in 2008, and then 32% and 35% with Mercadante. In the last elections, we grew a lot in the metropolitan regions of São Paulo and Campinas. What we need is to become more rooted in cities with fewer than 40 inhabitants."

Emídio is already advocating for the participation of a businessman on Padilha's future ticket. "São Paulo is a state that used to lead the country and has fallen behind. We need to regain that leading role. There's nothing better for that than having a vice-presidential candidate who represents the business community that wants to make São Paulo grow again," he added.