Former Ceará governor Ciro Gomes stated on Saturday (April 25) at a PSDB event in São Paulo that he will decide by mid-May whether to run for Brazil's presidency or the Ceará governorship. He received an invitation from the party's national president, Aécio Neves, but said that if he had any sense, he would not run again. The statement follows a 'profound humiliation' in the 2022 election.
Ciro Gomes attended a meeting with PSDB pre-candidates for deputy positions at Clube Juventus in eastern São Paulo on Saturday (April 25). It was his first public agenda after the invitation from Aécio Neves to run for the presidency under the party banner. Attendees included state president Paulo Serra, a pre-candidate for São Paulo governor, deputy Ana Carolina Serra, and former senator José Aníbal.
In his speech, Ciro described the 2022 election as a 'profound humiliation,' having lost even in Ceará and his hometown. 'I wanted it so much, but I couldn't [become president]. And in the last election, I felt deeply humiliated by a fascist campaign that denied me even the right to participate,' he told journalists. He criticized Brazil's current structural moment as the republic's worst and warned about using FGTS funds to pay debts, benefiting banks.
Aécio Neves told Igor Gadelha's column that the invitation is serious and that PSDB has an 'obligation' to offer an alternative to Lula and Flávio Bolsonaro, viewing Ciro as the best option. Ciro, who has run for president four times (1998, 2002, 2018, and 2022), was planning a Ceará governorship bid, where he leads a March Datafolha poll with 47% against 32% for current governor Elmano de Freitas (PT).
Behind the scenes, Ciro weighs a conflict between reason and willingness, considering the invitation out of respect for PSDB, while building a local alliance with PL in Ceará despite national differences.
