PL bench asks for alignment to defend Flávio on state platforms

PL congressmen have felt the lack of a defined direction on the agendas that will be debated in the 2026 electoral campaign. In addition to national themes, such as the end of the 6×1 scale, parliamentarians understand that there is still no clear guidance on how the argument will be constructed around the defense of the party's pre-candidate for President, Senator Flávio Bolsonaro (RJ).

After the audio leaks linking the son of former president Jair Bolsonaro (PL) to former banker Daniel Vorcaro, deputies and senators from the party began to expect a more emphatic position.

On that May 13th, the WhatsApp group of PL deputies was silent. No one commented on the case until the release of a video of Flávio himself, late in the afternoon. From then on, they began to position themselves on the networks defending the senator's conduct.

The stance adopted is to let the dust settle, not comment on the case and, when necessary, defend the senator. The leader of the PL in the Chamber, Sóstenes Cavalcante (RJ), reinforces that a meeting is still needed with the pre-candidate's campaign team to narrow down and align the speeches in defense of Flávio.

"Regarding Banco Master, we do have a communication standard created by the PL and we will wait for Flávio's campaign communication team to hold a meeting with the two teams and, if there are any standardization adjustments, it will be done", he said.

The base now hopes that there is no greater involvement by Flávio with the Banco Master case and trusts in the pre-candidate's public statements that everything that could be publicized has already been disclosed. The tendency is now for the PL leadership to resolve the main issues and then pass the decisions on to the base.

The idea is for each candidate to focus on regional issues and let the presidential campaign deal with broad issues. The 6×1 agenda is also an example. Unlike the PT, the PL does not have a clear public position on reducing working hours. Therefore, the strategy now is also not to address the issue and wait to see if the leaders will have a more emphatic position on the reduction in scale.

Behind the scenes, one of the main figures in articulating and defining positions is Flávio's campaign coordinator, senator Rogério Marinho (PL-RN). He is one of those responsible for defining the positions of supporters and publishes, also in WhatsApp groups, the positions in relation to each topic.

In the opinion of some congressmen, there is no coordination like the PT, for example. The view of these deputies is that the party lacks a structured organization around the agendas and that the left has a much more consolidated internal articulation than the PL.

Deputy Eduardo Pazuello (PL-RJ) reinforces that the party has not adopted a coordinated strategy for each case and reacts according to events.

"There is no combined narrative. In Master's case, we believe in Flávio. He thought it was important, it was a tough decision and he is responsible for it. I believe that nothing else will unburden the campaign. There is no combined narrative in the PL, the conversation takes place according to the facts and not with pre-established narratives", he stated.

The best defined directions, so far, are related to public security, a priority topic for the party and where right-wing deputies and senators have an advantage. The agenda is one of voters' two priorities and is most explored by right-wing candidates.

In light of this, congressmen understand that Rio de Janeiro is so far the best-defined axis of the campaign. A stronghold of Bolsonarism, the state's main problem is precisely public security and is seen as a space that can influence national elections due to its central role in combating organized crime.

The police operation that left 121 dead at the end of last year made this trend clear. The episode sparked the debate on security and guided discussions across the country. Right-wing governors came together to defend the then governor of Rio de Janeiro, Claudio Castro (PL), and the entire party base also came out in defense of the conduct of security agents.

The standardization of the PL's speech for this and other topics, however, will take place after the elaboration of a government plan for Flávio. "When we have a government plan ready, we will align and standardize all these issues with the candidates, including public security", concluded Sóstenes.

Last Friday (3), the PL began a movement to seek to unify the discourse of its members. The party resumed holding seminars held by the acronym to align political communication strategies and action on social media. Flávio, Marinho and other parliamentarians participated in the initiative, held in Rio de Janeiro.

PT maintains strategy

On the PT side, there is a frequent exchange of information and the guidelines are based on meetings of the party's bench in Congress. Deputies and senators have a defined position on the hottest issues based on the leaders' own discussions with politicians.

Both the PT leadership and the coordination of the federal bench are linked to the campaign of President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (PT) to produce permanent information on the government's actions and the topics that will be addressed in the electoral campaign.

"This is being distributed throughout the base and mobilizing the directories. All priority themes are produced, organized and distributed to the entire base throughout the country. There is a coordinated action to produce information and disseminate", said Nilto Tatto (PT-SP).

This exchange, however, is not new and has been articulated since the beginning of Lula's administration. Reinforcement takes place according to specific guidelines.

A clear example was the campaign for the PEC at the end of the 6×1. The government did not openly support the agenda until mid-2025. With the popularity of the proposal and the traction of the proposal in society, Planalto and the party leadership began to defend a reduction in the work schedule. This had an immediate effect on the conduct of all deputies and senators, who began to adopt a speech in defense of changing the day.

The coordinated actions of information production and communication strategy extend to other subjects. The case of Banco Master is another central topic in the national debate. The party is cautious before disseminating information, but managed to consolidate the discourse surrounding the Bolsonaro family's link to fraud involving the institution. Congressmen constantly use the term "Bolso Master" to refer to scandals.

The main positions are debated at meetings and passed on to politicians. Less urgent information and pre-campaign "supply" are provided via WhatsApp groups.

From this point on, each deputy and senator uses the platform they prefer to address the topics: videos and posts on social media, speeches in plenary sessions or interviews.

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Source: CNN