The samba school Acadêmicos de Niterói presented on Sunday (15) an enredo honoring President Lula, narrating his journey from birth in Caetés to the Presidency. The parade sparked debates on early electoral propaganda and included satires of opponents, with Lula attending and greeting the group afterward.
The Acadêmicos de Niterói, recently promoted to the Grupo Especial, paraded at Marquês de Sapucaí on Sunday (February 15, 2026) with the enredo “From the top of the Mulungu emerges hope: Lula, the worker of Brazil”, signed by carnavalesco Tiago Martins. The samba-enredo depicted the life of Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (PT), from his birth in Caetés, Pernambuco, to his presidency. Lula watched the parade from a box and, at the end, went down to the sambódromo to greet the members, showing emotion and satisfaction with the homage, as reported by Martins.
The parade included elements satirizing Lula's opponents, such as a depiction of Jair Bolsonaro (PL) as the clown Bozo and an evangelical family in a can costume, criticized by Flávio Bolsonaro (PL) allies as mockery of Christian faith. Before the event, two actions were filed at the Superior Electoral Court (TSE) against Lula, the PT, and the school, alleging early electoral propaganda and political power abuse due to references to the PT jingle (“Olê, olê, olê, olá, Lula, Lula”), the motto “love beat fear”, and the party number 13 in the samba lyrics, plus a R$1 million Embratur subsidy to each school. Minister Cármen Lúcia noted the risk of illicit acts, but the TSE denied an injunction to avoid prior censorship. Experts diverge: some see “magic words” as indirect vote appeals, others do not link it to the 2026 election.
PT members, like Minister Paulo Teixeira and Deputy Jilmar Tatto, describe the parade as a success, with public applause and Lula's social strength, denying negative electoral impacts. Flávio Bolsonaro's allies, however, view it as a “shot in the foot”, exploiting it on social media to attack tax use for campaigning and satires of the middle class and evangelicals. The senator recorded a video for undecideds: “You, who are Christian, were happy to see Lula's samba school mock your faith?”.
Celebrities reacted variably: Wanessa Camargo praised what she saw, saying “The little I saw I thought beautiful”, despite her father Zezé Di Camargo being a Bolsonaro supporter. Nathalia Dill, who lost a job for supporting Lula in 2022, refused to comment and preferred to praise the Imperatriz Leopoldinense parade. An incident occurred: feces were found in an allegorical car during the parade, confirmed by Martins, but the culprit remains unknown; the carnavalesco expressed satisfaction with the public acclaim.
Historically, the PT filed a similar action in 2006 against Leandro de Itaquera for honoring Geraldo Alckmin and José Serra (PSDB), but Arselino Tatto stated the current case differs due to no direct federal interference; Lula consulted the CGU to ensure legality.
