On the one hand, opponents such as Mayor Ricardo Nunes say that there was an early campaign with an explicit request for a vote by the President of the Republic, [por isso] he must be punished. On Boulos’ side, what they have said is that it was not an act organized by the public authorities, by the Presidency of the Republic, it was a private act in which a citizen demonstrated his opinion. Leonardo Sakamoto, UOL columnist
Sakamoto points out that despite the high chance of paying a fine for asking for a vote, which is vetoed in the pre-campaign, this is not enough to make Lula ineligible in the next elections.
There is a very high chance that President Lula will actually have to pay a fine that could reach 25 thousand reais, depending on the aggravating circumstances. A fine on account of an electoral infraction because of this. Will he become ineligible as some people argue? Of course not. Leonardo Sakamoto, UOL columnist
Bolsonaro has already said a lot of cursive, Lula, every politician in the pre-election period speaks cursive, exactly that won’t make anyone ineligible. We have to see if it will remain constant, then the business will change. But that exactly doesn’t make anyone ineligible. […] This will not challenge Boulos’ candidacy either, it will not be enough for that. Leonardo Sakamoto, UOL columnist
Part of President Lula’s movement, even taking risks and mistakes that could lead to receiving fines, is due to his strategy of linking himself to his candidate for mayor of São Paulo.
The fact is that this ends up being part of Lula’s strategy of trying to stick with Boulos as much as possible. As Lula appears in the videos and Lula has a very strong presence on TV, and the TV election campaign starts in the second half of the year, Lula has tried to do things and make it clear that he is supporting Boulos. There is a lot of electoral research carried out by campaigns showing that many people don’t know that Lula supports Guilherme Boulos. What happens? Lula decided to give a push. Leonardo Sakamoto, UOL columnist
