Marco Aurélio's message has a specific target: it's Skaf.
On Monday, the president of the Superior Electoral Court, Marco Aurélio Mello, promised to act more rigorously against early political campaigning and said that some candidacies could even be challenged; the most blatant case is that of the president of the Federation of Industries of São Paulo, Paulo Skaf, who has already hired the marketing strategist Duda Mendonça and has been constantly on television; the use of resources from the S system for personal promotion could cause future problems for the PMDB pre-candidate for governor of São Paulo.
247 - The promise by Minister Marco Aurélio Mello, president of the Superior Electoral Court, to act more rigorously against early political campaigning, was interpreted in São Paulo's political circles as a sign that pre-candidate Paulo Skaf, of the PMDB party, may not succeed. In an interview with the newspaper Valor Econômico, Mello said that the only way to discipline politics and prevent abuses of economic power is to act more firmly and even challenge candidacies (read more). here).
In the São Paulo Public Prosecutor's Office, there was already an expectation that Skaf's early campaign would be challenged by opponents. Now, it's practically certain. That's because he... He has used resources from the Federation of Industries of São Paulo – that is, from the parastatal "S System," funded by mandatory contributions from industry – to frequently appear on prime-time television. Skaf has already tried to credit the reduction in energy bills and the Ports Provisional Measure as if they were his own initiatives. Furthermore, he has repeatedly promoted the technical education system financed by Fiesp. Recently, he made new videos about a Fiesp lawsuit challenging, in court, the increase in property tax (IPTU) in São Paulo. In all cases, there is also the personal promotion of the pre-candidate.
In the most recent polls, Skaf appears in second place in the race for the Palácio dos Bandeirantes (São Paulo state government headquarters), with approximately 16% of the vote intention. To get there, he also relied on the support of marketing strategist Duda Mendonça, hired at a hefty price by Fiesp (Federation of Industries of the State of São Paulo). The advertising campaigns carried out by Duda's team, which promote Skaf's image, have already cost more than R$ 20 million in recent years.
Watch below one of the videos from the pre-candidate who has been campaigning tirelessly: