DOM 19 DE MAYO DE 2024 - 07:55hs.
Individual conversations with deputies and leaders

Brazilian Evangelicals mount a war operation in Chamber against gambling

Members of the Evangelical Parliamentary Front (FPE) launched a veritable war operation to prevent the approval of the bill that regulates gambling in Brazil. The offensive ranges from individual conversations with deputies and bench leaders in the Chamber to the hiring of a team of 10 people to approach parliamentarians in the corridors of the National Congress. The discussion of the proposal was left for today (23).

The decision to intensify the articulation against the proposal came after the president of the Chamber, Arthur Lira (PP-AL), included the project in the voting agenda of the plenary of the House this week.

The president of the FPE, deputy Sóstenes Cavalcante (União Brasil-RJ), said that one of the focus of the operation will be a list of 35 parliamentarians whose votes he believes it is possible to “turn around.”

Cavalcante declined to reveal who the 35 federal deputies are, but stated that there are both right-wing and left-wing parliamentarians in the group.

The list was shared by Cavalcante with five other members of the front, who split up to look for these deputies and try to convince them to vote against the bill.

In addition to the president at the front, the federal deputies Cezinha de Madureira (PSD-SP), Silas Câmara (Republicans-AM), Eli Borges (Solidariedade-TO) and Otoni de Paula (PSC-RJ) are part of the “mission”.

“Other than that, I'm going to do a job of dialogue with party leaders,” added Cavalcante. He said that he had already sought out, this Monday (22), leaders of the PL, Republicans and União Brasil.

In the conversation, the president of the FPE said he had asked for support to prevent the project from being voted on this week. The three leaders, says the deputy, are committed to defending that the vote is left for after Carnival.

“I spoke to them and they promised that if they try to vote this week, they will obstruct. With the obstruction of these three parties, it will be difficult for Lira to vote this week,” said Cavalcante.

Conversation with Arthur Lira

The president of the evangelical front said he went directly to the president of the Chamber on Monday. “I sent a message, and he replied that being on the agenda does not mean it will be voted on,” he reported. Cavalcante also said he had sought out deputies in favor of the project, among them Felipe Carreras (PSB-PE), rapporteur of the text, to ask that the vote be left for after Carnival.

The FPE believes that, by leaving the analysis of the matter for after the holiday, the work to turn votes will be easier, as more deputies will be in person in Brasilia for the vote.

Source: Igor Gardelha - Metrópoles