Lula, who understands Bolsonaro against Bolsonarist terrorism, needs to take office as soon as possible 27/12/2022 00h39

???????? Vinicius Rodrigues Vieira

President-elect Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (PT) and his vice-president Geraldo Alckmin (PSB) risk facing political-legal uncertainty between midnight, the anniversary of January 1, 2023, and January 1, 2023. opening in their respective offices at a solemn session of the National Congress scheduled for the afternoon of the same day.

What if the putschist president Jair Bolsonaro (PL) directly or indirectly strikes blows and advances against democracy between 0:00 on the first day of the year and the predicted moment for President Rodrigo Pacheco (PSD)? To command the Senate’s nominations of those elected to lead the Executive?

Future Minister of Justice Flávio Dino (PSB) stated this Monday (26) that he understands that Lula will become acting president shortly after the end of 31 December. According to a G1 report, Lula will “advance administrative proceedings into the early hours of 1 January to avoid ‘instability'”. This is a response to terrorist-coup plans to carry out explosions and impose martial law in Brasilia, as described by George Washington de Oliveira Souza, who was arrested for planting explosives at the capital’s International Airport.

Lula seems to confirm the thesis that from midnight on the first day of 2023, Bolsonaro will cease to be “Cinderella” – that is, president – and will once again become “Cinderella of Gata”, so much so that the elected official is Nicolas Maduro, the autocratic leftist who rules Venezuela. They considered issuing a lightning ordinance to allow entry.

Dino, a former judge, definitely knows more about the law than this clerk. However, his comment is remarkable when compared with what is written in Chapter 2 of the Federal Constitution, which deals with the Executive Branch. In it, chapter 1 deals with the President and the Vice President.

According to the wording provided in Constitutional Amendment 11/97, which governed the period when Lula and Alckmin were elected, Article 82 reads: “The term of office of the President is four years and will begin on January 1 of the year following his election”. It should be noted that amendment 111/21 is currently in effect, which establishes that the term of office for the president elected in 2026 begins on January 5, the deadline for this year’s winning candidate to leave power. However, regardless of the date of inauguration, an earlier section of the Constitution makes clear the need to take office in order to carry out the mandate. Let’s check it out.

“Article 78. The President and Vice-President take office at a session of the National Congress, vowing to protect, defend and fulfill the Constitution, obey the laws, promote the general well-being of the Brazilian people, maintain unity. Brazil’s integrity and independence.

One paragraph. If the President or the Vice-President has not taken office, except for force majeure, after ten days have passed from the date of taking office, he is declared vacant.”

In other words, it is up to the interpretation that if the President or Vice President positions that have not taken office within ten days as of January 1st have not been taken, each will be vacant. Since this conclusion is plausible, it is inevitable to ask in the background whether the putschist terrorists and their financiers and supporters trust the possibility of causing riots that will prevent the National Congress from being sworn in in early 2023. elected officials thus making room for violation of the democratic order.

Therefore, in light of this interpretation of the Constitution and what we have witnessed at the barracks gates since the victory of the Lula-Alckmin ticket, it would be prudent not to leave any ambiguity. Bolsonaro’s inauguration date took place on January 1, 2019, between 3:00 pm and 4:00 pm. Therefore, in view of Article 82, it is conceivable that his and Vice President Hamilton Mourão’s term would only expire for exactly four years. then, from 15:00 to 16:00 on January 1, 2023.

Since the same Article 82 does not specify a time for the opening, the power vacuum can only be filled without any ambiguity if Pacheco declares that Lula and Alckmin are sworn in at exactly zero o’clock in the first second of the new year, next Sunday.

The news suggests that Bolsonaro will leave the country on December 28 to go to his idol, former US president Donald Trump’s Florida apartment. A careful reading of the Magna Carta also casts doubt on the date the president chose to leave the country – four days before his successor took office. The Constitution does not say anything about the fact that the person holding the Executive power has to hand over the office to the Vice President if he is outside the borders of the country. Both may lose their respective duties, according to Article 83, only if they remain outside the country “for a period of “exceeding fifteen days” without congressional authorization.

That is, Bolsonaro from the United States is expected to have powers that could interrupt the transition, not to mention the plausible hypothesis that Mourão, whose history is full of coup statements, actually exercises the Presidency and washes his hands from all acts of terrorists.

I have already argued that if there were military forces loyal to democracy in this area, Bolsonaro would have already been arrested or forced to resign in a similar move to the movement that guaranteed Juscelino Kubitschek’s inauguration as President in 1956. Brasilia, Dino, Pacheco and other members of the truly democratic political establishment should seriously consider transferring Lula and Alckmin to the first second of January 1, 2023.

Burying the Bolsonaro era before dawn would be more beneficial and symbolic than a midnight inauguration. The vulgarity of the evil of the past four years may irreversibly pollute the sun’s rays at dawn, when happiness, though still a dream, will no longer be a delusion.

???????? Vinicius Rodrigues Vieira He holds a PhD in international relations from Oxford and teaches MBA courses at Faap and FGV.