The former governor of Goiás Ronaldo Caiado, PSD's bet for the Presidency race, tried, but fell short in his goal of becoming the most remembered option for voters who do not want either Lula (PT) or Flávio Bolsonaro (PL), even in a scenario of high rejection, in which the two heads in the dispute are bitter 45% of Brazilians who would not vote for them at all, according to Datafolha released on October 1st.
Caiado fought for the place in Kassab's party and beat Eduardo Leite (PSD) and Ratinho Jr. (PSD), the latter by default —since the governor of Paraná gave up trying for the Presidency— and had some traction in the electoral race, at least among groups of businessmen, who came to see him as a more stable option than Flávio Bolsonaro.
The agenda with São Paulo businesspeople in search of support, however, could not withstand the blows that caused the campaign to apparently founder, although the result can only be measured with the counting of the polls this Sunday (4).
While the politician asked the business community to "spread the word" to make him more popular, he continued on agendas in São Paulo without being recognized by people on the streets and far from the electorate outside Goiás.
One of the shocks in the campaign was the chicken flight of Augusto Cury (Avante), who, at the end of August and September, surpassed his opponents and reached double digits in some polls, a feat not achieved by his opponent from Goiás.
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Cury now has 3% of the total votes, according to Datafolha this Saturday (3), compared to 4% for Caiado. Renan Santos (Missão) has 3%, and Romeu Zema (Novo) did not score. Lula has 42%, and Flávio, 40%. 4% said they voted blank, null or none, and 3% were undecided. The survey has a margin of error of plus or minus two percentage points.
Another blow to the dispute was the Goiano's own performance in debates and interviews. He was criticized for not being able to detail government plans, an argument that the candidate, who is a doctor, countered by saying that it was only possible to "examine the patient", the equivalent of giving more details about how to solve the country's problems while sitting in the president's chair.
Another criticism was the difficulty of nationalizing the speech, seen in mistakes in the debates themselves, when the politician confused the position he was seeking by saying he would become "governor of the state" during a Folha and UOL hearing in September.
Another episode used to illustrate that the politician's campaign did not take off, perhaps due to his poor performance, was the discovery of his deputy and party leader, Gilberto Kassab, sleeping during Caiado's speech in the August debate on TV Bandeirantes.
The scene went viral on social media, and Kassab denied taking a nap, saying he was messing with his cell phone. The episode was used by them later, in a joking tone, to promote the candidacy. "With me in the Presidency, you will sleep peacefully like Gilberto Kassab in the debate", Caiado published online.
The native of Goiás focuses on combating violence, an issue he has always tried to join. One of the highlights of the presidential candidate's plan is to toughen penalties, classify criminal organizations as terrorists and create a joint police force with neighboring countries.
In the economy, it promises to reduce expenses and link them to a maximum of 50% of GDP (Gross Domestic Product), adjusted for inflation, with a focus on cutting parliamentary amendments. In relation to health, it proposes less time in SUS (Unified Health System) queues, a focus on preventive treatment of diseases and the use of artificial intelligence to assist professionals in the sector.
Of names that could make up the government, he mentioned Roberto Azevêdo, former director general of the WTO (World Trade Organization), for Foreign Relations, and the doctor herself, cardiologist Ludhmila Hajjar, for the Health portfolio.
Another name mentioned was that of prosecutor Lincoln Gakiya for the Public Security portfolio, although Gakiya stated at the time of the invitation that he would not comment on the matter as he was an active prosecutor.
During the run up to this October 4th, Caiado changed his strategy to try to take flight and reach the second round with Lula (PT), who, he likes to say, could only be defeated at this stage of the election by him.
At first, he did not act frontally against Flávio Bolsonaro, but later he began to attack the senator more directly, trying to win over voters critical of Jair Bolsonaro's (PL) son. The tactic led to the exchange of marketer Paulo Vasconcelos for publicist Marcos Carvalho, because the former defended a less confrontational stance with Flávio.
The target of all times, however, is Lula, against whom he insists on reinforcing the strong opposition and linking it to corruption. This is why the tendency is for the Goiás native to support Flávio Bolsonaro in a possible second round between the senator and the PT member, although Caiado avoided anticipating the support.
As the campaign did not take off, Caiado has turned to Goiás, where he likes to remember that he has approval ratings above 80%. The counting Sunday will feature the candidate in Goiânia, alongside his wife, Gracinha (União Brasil), who is trying for a seat in the Senate.
Caiado was a federal deputy for five terms, the first starting in 1991. In 2014, he was elected senator for Goiás. He reached the state Executive in 2018 and was re-elected in the following election. In Congress, he spent most of his time in the PFL (which became DEM in 2007 and then became União Brasil).
His political performance was marked by the defense of agribusiness and opposition to the PT, in addition to appealing to the banners of public security and the fight against corruption.
