Bolsonaro seeks party affiliation for presidential race.
The far-right leader wants guarantees from the president of the PP party, Senator Ciro Nogueira (PI), that he will not lose his mandate due to party disloyalty; however, already preparing for a possible lawsuit in the TSE (Superior Electoral Court), Bolsonaro complains that he has no space within the party to participate in committees of the Chamber of Deputies on issues related to his platform, such as lowering the age of criminal responsibility.
247 - The leading figure of the far-right in Brazil, Congressman Jair Bolsonaro (RJ), who dreams of running for president in 2018, has decided to leave the PP party. He is looking for a new party and has already received invitations from the PRB and a number of smaller parties.
Bolsonaro wants assurances from the president of the PP party, Senator Ciro Nogueira, that the party will not request his removal from office due to party disloyalty. But even if that happens, he is already working on a countermeasure.
He postponed until May a request for leave from the PP party. His claim is that he no longer has a place in the party and, despite serving his seventh term, is unable to be appointed to committees that deal with issues of interest to him.
He had announced at the party convention that he needed to be released by the PP leadership without losing his mandate, as the law stipulates. He cites, for example, the proposed constitutional amendment that reduces the age of criminal responsibility from 18 to 16 years, which is currently being discussed, but which he presented in 1996, although he was not allowed to be part of the commission dealing with the matter.
“I no longer feel comfortable continuing in a party that is falling apart,” he says. The request to postpone his departure was made by the vice-governor of Rio de Janeiro, Francisco Dornelles. Ciro promised Bolsonaro that he would release him in May or June so that he could switch parties without losing his mandate.