1. Bolsonaro will be announced as a member of PL on November 30th

The era of news articles including “no party” after the name of the Brazilian President is about to end! Partido Liberal (PL) will announce Jair Bolsonaro as a member during an event on November 30th, at 10:30 am in Brasília.

PL released a statement saying the president of the party Valdemar da Costa Neto has “carte blanche to decide on his successor and Bolsonaro’s membership.” Bolsonaro said Costa Neto “is a person known for honoring his word. We have everything to really help in Brazilian politics.”

Bolsonaro hopes that the leader of PL follows through with his word – especially when it comes to breaking ties with ACM Neto in Bahia and João Doria in São Paulo, one of Bolsonaro’s main adversaries.

Controversial, Costa Neto was convicted in 2013 for corruption and money laundering due to his involvement in the Mensalão corruption scandal.

Jair Bolsonaro’s membership with PL officially puts the president in the presidential race for 2022. Lula (PT), Moro (Podemos), Ciro (PDT) and Joao Doria (who is running for a nomination at PSDB) are Bolsonaro’s biggest challengers for the presidency.

Estado de Minas: Bolsonaro sobre Valdemar Costa Neto: ‘Conhecido por honrar sua palavra’
O Globo: Valdemar Costa Neto promete a Bolsonaro romper acordos com Doria e ACM Neto
CNN: PL anuncia filiação de Bolsonaro para 30 de novembro

2. Lula noted for his international meetings

Leader in presidential race polls, former president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva was noted by the press and other world leaders during his international tour.

As a civilian, Lula was welcomed with pomp by French President Emmanuel Macron, who is not liked by current President Jair Bolsonaro. Macron held the meeting at the Élysée Palace with Republican Guards welcoming Lula.

Bolsonaro saw the meeting as a provocation: “It does look like a provocation, don’t his intelligent service know who Lula was, what he did in his eight years in power and then Dilma’s six, what they did to Brazil?” said Bolsonaro.

Lula also met with Olaf Scholz, the Chancellor-elect of Germany who recently won the parliamentary elections in the country. Scholz is set to replace Prime Minister Angela Merkel, who has been in power for 16 years.

Recently, in an interview to El País, Lula mentioned Merkel when comparing her to Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega: “I can be against (Ortega’s holding onto power), but I cannot interfere in the decisions of the people. Why can Angela Merkel be in power for 16 years and Daniel Ortega can’t?”.

G1: Como foi encontro com ‘honrarias’ entre Lula e Macron em Paris
DW: Lula se reúne com vencedor da eleição alemã
IG: Bolsonaro afirma que recepção que Macron fez a Lula na França foi provocação
El País: “Tenho que voltar para recuperar o prestígio do Brasil, e que o povo coma três vezes por dia”

3. Moro tries to present himself as the third way for 2022

Sergio Moro – a former judge and former Justice Minister – has started his campaign for the presidential race in 2022. Recently joining Podemos, Moro has a busy schedule with press and political events.

The party took Moro to the Senate to vote against the Precatory Constitutional Amendment Bill. The party is in favor of social benefits for the poor, such as Auxílio Brasil, but against the government going over the spending ceiling or not paying debts.

Moro’s presence in the Senate puts him against the Bolsonaro administration. However, the former judge has also criticized Lula. Commenting on some of Lula’s statements, Moro said it is worrying: “When we have someone who wants to be considered for president and complements Cuba, downplays restrictions to liberties and political arrests in Cuba, compliments Nicaragua, which just held elections with political adversaries being arrested, I think we have reasons to worry.”

To strengthen his candidacy and his name as a third way against current President Bolsonaro and former President Lula, Moro believes is possible to make alliances with other parties: “I know we can make alliances with other parties or with people inside the parties. There are many good people in politics. Let’s look for political agents who share our vision,” he said.

G1: Podemos leva Moro ao Senado para anunciar voto da bancada contra a PEC dos Precatórios
Poder 360: Moro diz que Podemos pode crescer, e não descarta alianças com partidos
Correio Braziliense: Moro diz que Lula flerta com o autoritarismo: “É preocupante”

4. PSDB holds messy primary to choose presidential candidate

PSDB was a protagonist in Brazilian politics since the end of the military dictatorship, but has lost space since 2018. Attempting to regain space as the third way – as the press calls the alternatives to Bolsonaro and Lula – the party is trying to choose their candidate through primaries. However, the process hasn’t been simple.

On Sunday (21st), voting was interrupted when the app used to count the votes crashed. Candidates João Doria – governor of São Paulo – and Arthur Virgílio – former Senator for Amazonas – want the vote to be held on Sunday (28th).

However, candidate Eduardo Leite – governor of Rio Grande do Sul – thinks an investigation is needed as he suspects a hacker could be to blame for the crash. “I learned that former presidents of PSDB are considering asking the Federal Police to investigate a hacker attack on our primaries. I fully support this request and will be following the investigation closely, as It was not just an attack on an app, but on PSDB itself,” he wrote on Twitter.

Other judicial issues could delay primaries even further. The Superior Electoral Court determined that PSDB needs to explain within 10 days what happened with the primaries. “Considering the repercussions of the matter and the statements published on the party’s website about the suspension of the primaries until the technological problems are resolved, I believe it is wise that the injunction request is assessed after the party provides information,” said Superior Electoral Court Minister Benedito Gonçalves.

Estadão: Prévias do PSDB: Leite defende investigação da PF sobre suspeita de ‘ataque hacker’
Poder 360: Depois de confusão nas prévias, Virgíliio diz que Aécio é “maçã podre” do PSDB
CNN Brasil: TSE dá 10 dias para PSDB explicar realização das prévias

5. COVID-19: Cities cancel Carnival while São Paulo state abolishes requirement for masks in open spaces

Brazil has nearly 60% of its population fully vaccinated, great news considering the number of people who died due to the pandemic (over 613,000). However, the country is only 57th on the ranking of fully vaccinated countries. Singapore (91.91%), the United Arab Emirates (88.40%) and Portugal (87.78%) are leading in the rankings.

As a result of this data and news about new waves of the pandemic hitting countries in Europe – as well as the threat of new variants – some Brazilian authorities have raised concerns about new waves of contamination. Dozens of Brazilians cities have announced that they will not host Carnival parties in 2022.

São Paulo and other state capitals such as Belo Horizonte, Recife, Salvador and Rio de Janeiro have considered making a joint decision about holding parties.

Meanwhile, the state of São Paulo announced that from December 11th the use of face coverings will no longer be mandatory in open spaces. “When we have over 75% of our population completely vaccinated, the government of São Paulo will remove the obligation to wear masks outside from December 11th,” said Governor João Doria. “We have made this decision based on scientific evidence that there was a 90% drop in hospitalizations when compared to the peak of the pandemic, as well as more people being vaccinated in the state that administers the most vaccines in the country,” he said.

G1: Ao menos 71 cidades de SP cancelam carnaval em 2022 por conta da pandemia
Estado de Minas: Detectada na África do Sul nova variante da COVID, com várias mutações
G1: Apesar do avanço da vacinação, Brasil ainda está longe dos países com maiores taxas de imunização
Governo de São Paulo: SP anuncia a flexibilização do uso de máscaras ao ar livre a partir de 11 de dezembro