Ex-governor of Ceará Ciro Gomes announces candidacy for Brazil’s presidential election

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – Former governor of Ceará and pre-candidate for the 2022 presidential election, Ciro Gomes from the Democratic Labor Party (PDT) has presented himself as a candidate for the third way.

In a video posted on social networks on Monday (12), Ciro says that the “hardest thing” is to know “what we have to do” for the country. “Because the easiest thing we know is that we want neither Lula da Silva nor Bolsonaro.”

His criticism of ex-president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (PT), which has intensified in recent months, has in mind what the former president “says he did and didn’t do,” the pre-candidate said. “It is for what he did wrong and tried to hide. And, above all, by what he will do and will not be able to do it, ” he said. In Gomes’ assessment, Lula does not have a clear project to lead Brazil. “He has no new proposal and probably does not have the energy to do so.”

Already a critic of the re-election of the current chief executive, Jair Bolsonaro (no party affiliation), Ciro says he condemns everything the president represents.”The lies and betrayals that he has committed and still commits against the Brazilian people, the evil and destruction are engraved in his soul,” he explains. Gomes affirms that Bolsonaro represents “delay, darkness, and tragedy”.

“I have a complete plan to lead Brazil out of this dilemma,” Gomes guarantees.

Launching himself as the solution to the polarization between Lula and Bolsonaro, the former governor of Ceará takes advantage of the data of the Genial/Quaest poll published Wednesday (7), which shows that 31% of Brazilians say they would not like to see either Lula da Silva or Bolsonaro as the winner of the election.

According to the poll, 57% of respondents are still undecided about their voting intentions for the 2022 election.

The Democratic Labor Party PDT is a social-democratic and democratic socialist political party in Brazil.

The party is organized into state and municipal directories and also in cooperational social movements, such as the Black Movement, the Working Woman Association, the Labor Union Syndicate, Socialist Youth, and the Green Labor Movement.

Its national directory is composed of over 250 members, while its national executive board has 21 members. The cooperational social movements have their own statutes and nationwide organization.

The PDT combines a pro-labor and social-democratic orientation with nationalism and elements of democratic socialism. Apart from a small truce in 1998, PT and PDT fought a rivalry for more than 20 years for the leadership of the Brazilian left. PDT eventually lost the battle, and became an ally of PT on the national level.

CIRO GOMES

Ciro Ferreira Gomes (born 6 November 1957), known simply as Ciro, is a Brazilian politician, lawyer, and academic. Identified as a center-left politician, national-developmentalist, social democrat and laborite, Ciro is currently affiliated to and vice-president of the Democratic Labour Party (PDT), although he has been a member of a variety of parties during his political career.

Born in São Paulo but raised in Ceará into a traditional political family, Ciro began his political career at the age of 24 in 1984. He was elected Mayor of Fortaleza (the state capital) at age of 30 in 1988 and was elected Governor of Ceará at the age of 32 in 1990. During his tenure, Ciro was the most popular governor in the country.

His Viva Criança program that reduced infant mortality in Ceará by 32% was given an international award by UNICEF. His success in Ceará led to his appointment as federal Minister of Finance by President Itamar Franco in September 1994, where he presided over the Real Plan, introduced by Fernando Henrique Cardoso, that helped stabilize the economy and end hyperinflation.

Ciro ran for President of Brazil twice as a nominee from Popular Socialist Party (PPS), in 1998 and 2002, coming in third and fourth place, respectively. In both campaigns Ciro presented himself as a critic of Fernando Henrique Cardoso’s economic policy and attempted to be a center-left alternative to PT candidate Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva.

Following the 2002 election, Ciro was appointed by President Lula as Minister of National Integration, where he was tasked with regional development and led the project of the interbasin transposition of the São Francisco River. In 2006, Ciro was elected federal deputy from Ceará.