MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Former Sao Paulo Governor Alckmin asked to run for Brazil's VP job alongside Lula

Alckmin said he planned to run again for governor of São Paulo but only discussed national politics with the press

Former Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula Da Silva and former São Paulo State Governor Geraldo Alckmin were said Monday to have been working on a possible ticket for next year's presidential elections.

Alckmin said negotiations were “progressing” as the challenges ahead involved reversing the situation to which the incumbent head of state Jair Bolsonaro has led the country with his peculiar handling of the coronavirus pandemic.

Alckmin, a former leader of Brazil's Social Democracy Party (PSDB), explained Monday negotiations with Lula were “advancing.” According to press reports, Alckmin has been asked by various unions to agree to run for vice president alongside Lula on Oct. 2, 2022, to defeat Bolsonaro.

“I am preparing again to be governor of the state. The federal hypothesis has emerged. The challenges are great. This hypothesis is advancing”, acknowledged Alckmin.

However, Alckmin did not refer to São Paulo's politics to the press during the meeting while he did focus on national issues.

“In the current situation, it would be very important for him to accept (be Lula's vice president). We will give our full support ”, said the president of Fuerza Sindical, Miguel Torres.

Earlier this month, Lula said in Madrid that he wanted to run again for president, but he also warned a final decision will be made between February and March “because there is much to decide.”

Lula has insisted Brazil needs to recover “the prestige” it once had and which has been eroded under Bolsonaro, who -in Lula's view- “does not understand the soul” of Brazilians.

“When I left the Presidency in 2010, Brazil was in a situation of economic growth and respectability. Today it is bankrupt. And the hunger that had ended in Brazil in 2014 returned with great force. Brazil was an international player. And everything was dismantled,“ he had told the Spanish newspaper El País.

Lula took advantage of his European tour to criticize Bolsonaro, particularly for the latter's handling of the COVID-19 pandemic and the environmental issues regarding Amazonia.

While in Europe, Lula held interviews with Germany's future Chancellor Olaf Scholz, French President Emmanuel Macron, and Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez ”to discuss the future of an agreement between Latin America and the European Union (EU).”

The 76-year-old former head of state regained his political rights this year after the Brazilian Supreme Court annulled two convictions against him for corruption and for which he spent 580 days in prison.