The Day to Work event (1), in which President Lula (PT) asked for votes in advance for the pre-candidate for mayor of São Paulo, Guilherme Boulos (PSOL), did not meet all the technical requirements for the release of funds via Rouanet Law. A People’s Gazette found that the Ministry of Culture (MinC) did not publish, in the Access System for Culture Incentive Laws (Salic), the technical opinions required by law.
Furthermore, the company responsible for the event, Veredas Gestão Cultural LTDA, did not detail the participation of the unions to the Ministry of Culture. According to legislation, the Rouanet Law must sponsor events “of a cultural nature”, political events are not permitted.
For a project to be approved by the National Culture Support Program (Pronac), registered proposals must have the approval of a technical area, in this case, the National Arts Foundation (Funarte), and the approval of the National Commission for Incentive to Culture. Culture (CNIC), consultative body of the Ministry of Citizenship, which approves the execution of the project. Both documents are not included in the Salic system, only the department’s ordinance approving the project in the Official Gazette of the Union.
Called “Culture and Rights Festival”, the event raised R$250,000 from the Rouanet Law. According to Salic, the company’s objective was to raise R$6.3 million, but it only managed to raise R$250,000 from the private medical school in Campinas (SP) São Leopoldo Mandic. The event also had the sponsorship of R$3 million from Petrobras, also through the Rouanet Law. In other words, the Brazilian oil company made the donation through a tax waiver.
Just like the documents from the Ministry of Culture, the contract referring to the Petrobras donation is also not included in Salic. When questioned by the report, the oil company denied that there was an omission in the documentation and stated that the contracts were still to be attached to the system.
“The review for the month of May, which includes the sponsorships formalized in April, has not yet been published. The sponsorship for the Culture and Rights Festival was signed in April 2024. Therefore, the project will appear on the portal in the update to be made in the coming days,” Petrobras said in a statement.
The Ministry of Culture was also contacted about Salic’s lack of documentation, but until the end of the article it did not respond. To the newspaper The State of S.Paulothe minister of the Presidency’s Communication Secretariat (Secom), Paulo Pimenta, denied that Lula’s speech is in disagreement with the electoral law.
Official description of the event did not include the participation of unions and Lula’s rally
The description of the event provided to the Salic system of Lei Rouanet by the organizer Veredas also does not mention the participation of political parties and trade unions, but only artists who would be present in the program. But in practice, the trade union entities CUT, Força Sindical, UGT, CTB, NCST, CSB and Intersindical Central da Classe Trabalhadora were involved.
In justification, Veredas said it would bring “a great samba show to the workers, one of the most popular regional cultural events in the country”. He also added that “in line with the theme of the fight for rights that characterizes the May 1st celebrations, we believe that the festival will contribute to the population’s access to cultural products”.
The company initially announced that the event would feature renowned singers, such as Paulinho da Viola, Diogo Nogueira, Maria Rita, Quintal do Pagodinho and Louana Prado. However, the union centrals, like the CUT itself, announced on their social networks a schedule different from that established by Veredas in Salic.
Performances by Paula Lima, Quesito Melodia, Afonsinho BV, Pagode dos Meninos, Trio da Lua – On the trail of Xaxado, Taty Dantas, Dexter, Roger Deff, Bateria Show da Gaviões da Fiel, Afro-X, Arnaldo Tiffu, Almirzinho, Arlindinho, Ivo Meirelles and Doce Encontro.
According to legislation, the Rouanet Law must sponsor events “of a cultural nature”, political events are not permitted. The analysts’ reading is that Lula, Boulos and other union centrals took advantage of the act. Some evidence of this is the fact that President Lula gave an official connotation to the event by sanctioning income tax exemption for those earning up to R$2,824 and then directly asking for votes for Boulos.
Federal deputy Mário Frias (PL-SP), who was Special Secretary of Culture in the Jair Bolsonaro (PL) government, criticized the lack of transparency by the Ministry of Culture and questioned how payment for the event was made.
“It was officially announced (advertising boards) that the project used resources from the Rouanet Law and was sponsored by Petrobras. Therefore, I question: Salic does not contain a Petrobras contract as announced at the event, how was this payment made?”, said the parliamentarian.
He also said that a question needs to be answered by the authorities: “We can say that with the participation of trade unions, political parties and the participation of the President of the Republic in party political activity, asking for votes in advance for his candidate for mayor of São Paulo, was there a clear and unequivocal deviation from the purpose of the event?”
Rogério Marinho activates TCU and PGR against Lula
The financing of the event was in the Legislature’s sights. This Friday (3), Senator Rogério Marinho (PL-RN), leader of the opposition in the Senate, asked the Federal Audit Court (TCU) and the Attorney General’s Office (PGR) to investigate Lula, Pimenta and Márcio Macêdo (General Secretariat of the Republic) for funding the Labor Day event. For the parliamentarian, there was improper use of public resources by the government.
In the investigation request made to the TCU, Marinho also mentions Petrobras and requests a detailed audit to evaluate the use of the state-owned company’s resources and the Rouanet Law in private events for electoral purposes.
“As Senator of the Republic, I have the duty, in the exercise of my mandate, to monitor the actions and activities of the Federal Executive Branch, so that President Lula’s participation in the Labor Day event, in the city of São Paulo, organized and funded with public resources, including live transmission via EBC, in a misuse of purpose, may have represented the commission of offenses against public management, responsibility, electoral and administrative improbity”, says an excerpt from the request.
In the letter sent to the PGR, he cites the transmission made by Empresa Brasil de Comunicação (EBC), which is public, as an improper use of the federal public machine and public resources for an early electoral campaign and abuse of economic power.
“The situation is worrying, as it portrays the use of Laws and an event organized and funded with public resources, in a misuse of purpose, to carry out real extemporaneous electoral propaganda, broadcast through a public channel (EBC), with an express request for a vote ”, said the senator in the document.
Opposition criticizes Lula for asking for votes for Boulos
Like Marinho, the reading of other opposition members is that Lula used the state machine to favor Boulos through early electoral propaganda. According to the Superior Electoral Court (TSE), candidates can only ask for votes directly from August 16th – the date on which electoral propaganda officially begins.
The PT member’s gesture occurs at a time when voting intentions for the PSOL deputy are tied with those of the current mayor of São Paulo, Ricardo Nunes (MDB). According to a survey released by the Paraná Pesquisa institute, this Thursday (2), Nunes (MDB) has 27.3% of voting intentions, compared to 25.7% for Boulos.
1,200 residents of the city of São Paulo were interviewed in person between April 26th and May 1st. The margin of error is plus or minus 2.9 percentage points. The confidence index is 95%. The research was registered with the Superior Electoral Court (TSE) under protocol no. SP-05530/2024.
Federal deputy Coronel Telhada (PP-SP) said that Lula’s stance violates the Democratic Rule of Law and the impartiality that the government needs to have.
“It is unacceptable for a sitting president to use the state machinery to carry out political propaganda in favor of a pre-candidate. This violates democratic principles and compromises the impartiality of the State. Our democracy needs to be preserved from any type of external interference, and it is it is the government’s and authorities’ duty to guarantee the fairness of the electoral process”, said Telhada.
Representative Rodrigo Valadares (União-SE) defended that there should be a separation between the State and the political campaign.
“Lula’s attitude in making a request for a vote during an official event is disrespectful to democracy and the separation between the State and political campaign. The State must be neutral and impartial, guaranteeing equal conditions for all candidates. Any type of use of the state machine for political promotion is unacceptable and must be repudiated”, stated Valadares.
Political parties file lawsuits against Lula and Boulos
With Lula’s explicit request in favor of Boulos, political parties filed lawsuits against Lula for an early election campaign. Some of them have already been analyzed by the courts. Also this Thursday, the Regional Electoral Court of São Paulo (TRE-SP) granted an injunction filed by the Partido Novo and ordered YouTube to remove the video in which Lula appears asking for votes in favor of Boulos within 48 hours. He also summoned the president himself to remove the content on his channel.
The São Paulo MDB directory filed a lawsuit with the Electoral Court requesting the imposition of a fine against Lula and Boulos for advance advertising, of R$ 25 thousand, in addition to the exclusion of videos and the ban on their use by the campaign.
For the MDB, there was an explicit request for votes by the President of the Republic outside the electoral period, “with the full agreement and consent of Guilherme Boulos, who clearly engaged in the illicit practice committed in his favor” and replicated the content on his social networks.
On his Twitter profile, federal deputy Kim Kataguiri (União-SP), who is also a pre-candidate for mayor of São Paulo, announced that he filed a lawsuit with the Public Electoral Ministry against the PT member and the PSOL deputy.
Senator Ciro Nogueira (PP-TO) published on his social networks that the São Paulo PP directory would also file a lawsuit for an early electoral campaign.
“They held a rally in favor of Boulos sponsored by a state-owned company, Petrobras! It’s not just abuse of economic power. It is disrespectful to the city of São Paulo and the country. The city is ravaged by the worst dengue epidemic in history and the federal government is going there to waste public money through politicking?”, said the congressman on Twitter.
