'Janja' and Michelle: first ladies with aspirations to occupy Planalto

There will come a time when Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva will have to decide: either bet on re-election in 2026 or build a powerful candidate so that the Workers' Party (PT) continues to govern Brazil. The current tenant of the Planalto Palace says that Joe Biden inspired him with his decision to seek four more years in the White House at the age of 81. If a few months ago he ruled out seeking a fourth term, now he leaves the possibility open.

The turning point was the G7 Summit in Hiroshima in June. “I met President Biden and asked him if it was true that he was going to attend” the 2024 elections. He said, 'Yes, I'm going to do it.'. That is an encouragement for me, because I am younger than him,” said Lula, 77, in an interview with the SBT network.

But Brazilian politics also sends signals in other directions, especially after the political disqualification of Jair Bolsonaro, who will not be able to run in the next presidential elections.

Lula could be forced to build a candidate. Or a candidate like Rosángela da Silva, his third wife, a sociologist with a high profile and her own political opinions, affiliated with the PT for decades.. Janja as a candidate from the left would impact the shore of the right, which has its own potential candidate in Michelle Bolsonaro, the wife of the former president.

Bolsonaro himself has spoken about candidate Michelle: “If she wants, she can present herself as a candidate. But what I tell Michelle is that she has no experience. Being mayor of a small town is not easy.. Dealing with 594 parliamentarians is not easy either. I don't think you have the experience for that.. But it is an excellent electoral poster.”

Two weeks ago, Michelle herself, 41 years old, 26 years younger than her husband, went even further: “I was able to see with my own eyes the reality of the people who need it most.. God forged me at that moment to be able to take care of those people. And the desire in my heart to become president.”

If that dream does not come true, there is also that of the vice presidency, accompanying Tarcisio de Freitas, the governor of the powerful state of São Paulo, the industrial and financial heart of the country.

“Do you know that person you love, but you fight? When you come back, it gets much better,” Bolsonaro recently told Folha de São Paulo to explain his relationship with Tarcisio, as everyone knows him in Brazil.

Bolsonaro opposed the tax reform that Lula managed to get approved by Parliament days ago, a reform that Tarcisio supported. This support for Lula earned him the fury of Bolsonaro and boos at a party convention. But the image of the governor of São Paulo is good, it transcends the space of the hard right, and that is an electoral asset. Combined with Michelle, the effect would be very powerful, because the wife of the former president attracts the evangelical vote, very powerful in Brazil.

Religion specialist Paul Freston defined Bolsonaro, who was baptized in the Jordan River in 2016, as “an ideal hybrid candidate, perhaps the first pan-Christian president, who brings together the electoral advantages of evangelical identity but avoids the disadvantages.” “.

Michelle, a fervent and at times harsh evangelist, goes further than her husband, something that was evident in an Instagram post she published after her political disqualification until 2030.

“For he who acts unjustly will receive the due payment for the injustice committed; and in this there is no exception for any person. Colossians 3:25. Only God knows the hearts of men. God has not lost nor will he ever lose control of anything.. My faith remains unwavering in You, Father. I continue trusting, believing now on your side, my love. Brazil above all and God above all! “I am at your service, my CAPTAIN.”

Janja's profile could not be more different, there is no possible point of agreement between her and Michelle. The figure of one feeds back to the other. And although Lula has not referred to her as a potential president, the truth is that the first lady gives the impression, at times, of co-governing Brazil.

Before the inauguration on January 1, the sociologist was part of the hard core of the transition team led by Vice President Geraldo Alckmin. The inauguration ceremony had its mark: it ignored the representative of the Government of Iran, a regime that oppresses women, it vetoed the traditional gun salutes so as not to disturb people with autism and it took advantage of Bolsonaro's flight to the United States to design a unprecedented delivery of the presidential sash by the “Brazilian people.”

More than half a year into Lula's third government, Janja is omnipresent, she has a weight and an aura that Lula's second wife, Marisa Leticia, did not have, whom he widowed in 2017, in one of his worst political moments.

Janja, 56 years old, 21 years younger than her husband, has an opinion on almost everything, and she lets it be known.. The government is aware of this, the first lady is, at times, a powerful minister with transversal powers.. “The influence of the first lady on the president is such that party and opposition politicians refer to her only as President Janja,” noted the Porto Alegre newspaper O Sul.

“Among the countless anecdotes told about her in Brasilia political circles, the most recent is that Janja advised a minister not to take his problems to the president. It is said that he listened in silence to a minister's report to Lula about the government's political articulation crisis in the legislature.. When the meeting ended, the first lady accompanied the minister to the door. The message reached his ear at the farewell: 'Do not bring these types of problems to the president again'. “The story circulates through the halls of Congress.”

According to deputy Evair de Melo, closely linked to the powerful agribusiness lobby, the president is “Janja's hostage” and “only does what she says”. The right-wing newspaper O Estado de São Paulo' stated in January, when the government had just begun, that “Janja has veto power in the government and already interferes in areas such as Defense, Economy and Communication.”

Beyond possible exaggerations, the first lady does not seem to have any interest in hiding her influence. During an event in the State of Ceará, a few weeks ago, Lula surprised by addressing the public: “Janja pointed out to me that only men spoke here. So here's the deal: I'm going to call her to talk.”

And Janja spoke, referring to the president as “hubby” and “my boy” and calling on women in high positions in different ministries to join the event.. This avoided a photo in which only men appeared.