PSL Party Leader Calls Bolsonaro a “Bum” and Threatens to Implode Government

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – Amidst the split in the PSL party, Deputy Delegate Waldir, leader of the party in the Chamber, was recorded saying he will implode Jair Bolsonaro’s government.

“I will do the following, I will implode the president. Then I will show his recording, I have the recording. There is no more talking, I will implode the president, this is done. I’m the most loyal guy to this bum, man. I voted for this guy, I walked in the sun in 246 cities shouting the name of this bum,” said the deputy.

The audio was disclosed by the R7 website. The conversation was recorded in the deputy’s office on Wednesday, October 16th.

Deputy Daniel Silveira admitted having recorded the conversation. According to Silveira, “Bolsonaro was surprised and did not expect that there was a group so united with the center parties”.

Silveira also said he did not disclose the conversation, the recording of which was forwarded by himself to other deputies linked to the president, including his son and also deputy Eduardo Bolsonaro. “We must preserve the president,” said Silveira, an advocate of Bolsonaro’s permanence in the PSL as long as the party is aligned with the President.

Bolsonaro’s defeats

On Thursday, President Bolsonaro suffered two major defeats amidst the crisis that broke out between himself and the national president of the PSL, Deputy Luciano Bivar.

The first defeat was the permanence of Deputy Waldir as the leader of the PSL in the Chamber. A day earlier, with Bolsonaro’s help, allies of the Palácio do Planalto attempted to oust Waldir from office and replace him by Deputy Eduardo Bolsonaro, son of President Bolsonaro.

Before confirming Waldir’s permanence, the General Secretariat of the Bureau of the Chamber of Deputies conferred the signatures of the three lists submitted on Wednesday night, October 16th, two of them submitted by the PSL’s Bolsonarist wing. According to deputies, the President intervened personally to influence the procedure.

In another chapter of the open war within the PSL, Bivar dismissed Deputy Eduardo Bolsonaro and Senator Flávio Bolsonaro, the oldest son of the president, from their leadership positions of the party in São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro, respectively. Another of Jair Bolsonaro’s allies, Deputy Bia Kicis was also relieved of the PSL presidency in the Federal District.

On the other hand, annoyed by the fact that Deputy Joice Hasselmann signed the list supporting the retention of Delegate Waldir as leader of the party, Bolsonaro decided to remove the deputy from her position as government leader in Congress. She should be replaced by Senator Eduardo Gomes, who is a deputy leader.

The PSL’s “paper”candidacy scheme, a case disclosed by the newspaper Folha de S.Paulo in a string of publications since the beginning of the year, has sparked the current party crisis and has been one of the attrition factors between the Bivar and Bolsonaro groups, who are threatening to leave the party.

The strawmen scandal has already overthrown Minister Gustavo Bebianno, led to the indictment and denunciation of Minister of Tourism Marcelo Álvaro Antônio, and led to a search and seizure operation by the Federal Police at addresses linked to Bivar in Pernambuco State.

Last week, faced with these issues, Bolsonaro asked Bivar to conduct an independent audit of the party’s accounts. The concept has been to use eventual irregularities in the documents as just cause for disassociation of party deputies, which would prevent them losing their mandate if they shift parties. The incident, however, sparked an internal dispute in the party, including the threat of expulsions.

To allies, Bolsonaro has said that he will only officially leave the PSL if he succeeds in enabling the safe migration of some 20 deputies of the PSL (from a bench of 53) to another party.

Behind the scenes, these deputies have already agreed to give up their share of PSL party funds in exchange for a disassociation without losing their mandate. The PSL is expected to receive R$110 million (R$28 million) in public funds in 2019, the largest share of all parties.

In some cases, the law allows deputies to change parties without risk of losing their mandate – among them substantial change and repeated deviation from the party program as well as severe personal political discrimination.

Source: Folhapress

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