The PSDB/Citizenship Federation filed a formal request with the Regional Electoral Court of Pernambuco (TRE) to be immediately removed from the electoral coalition of governor and candidate for re-election Raquel Lyra (PSD). In an order released on Wednesday afternoon (19), the Court gave the Pernambuco de Coração coalition 24 hours to comment on the request.
The deadline determined by electoral judge Paulo Machado Cordeiro, rapporteur of the case at the Electoral Court of Pernambuco, would end at 3:56 pm this Thursday (20). However, Raquel Lyra's party stated, in a statement, that it has already held a new demonstration to keep the PSDB/Cidadania Federation in the coalition.
In the order, the judge justified the deadline by highlighting "the approaching date on which the media plan regarding the free electoral guide will be defined (August 21, 2026), especially deliberations on electoral propaganda time". It is based on the number of political parties on a ticket that the total time for free electoral advertising for each candidate on radio and television is defined.
The PSDB/Citizenship Federation's permanence on Raquel Lyra's ticket was questioned by the Frente Popular de Pernambuco coalition, led by former mayor of Recife and candidate for governor João Campos (PSB), which filed a lawsuit with the Electoral Court on August 5th.
Initially, the state directories of PSDB and Cidadania in Pernambuco decided to support the re-election of Raquel Lyra, in a convention held jointly on July 31st. However, on August 5, the last possible day for party conventions, an intervention committee of the federation's national directory voted to annul the convention, approving neutrality in elections for the state government.
This is because the national leadership of Cidadania chose to support the candidacy of the former mayor of Recife, João Campos (PSB). The intervention committee is chaired by the president of the federation and PSDB nationally, Aécio Neves, and by the president of Cidadania, federal deputy Alex Manente (SP).
Despite the request for immediate withdrawal from Raquel Lyra's coalition, the PSDB state directory in Pernambuco said, in a statement, that it "formally complied with the decision approved at the Extraordinary Convention held on 08/05/2026". The party in the state, however, reaffirmed local support for the governor.
If the PSDB/Cidadania Federation leaves the Pernambuco de Coração coalition, Raquel Lyra will have the support of six parties: PSD, Podemos, Avante, Novo and the Progressive Union Federation (União Brasil - PP).
The governor's main opponent, João Campos brings together 12 parties supporting his coalition, the Popular Front of Pernambuco: PSB, Republicans, MDB, PDT, Agir, Mobiliza, DC and the federations PT - PcdoB - PV and federation PRD - Solidariedade.
In a note sent to g1, Raquel Lyra's coalition stated that a new demonstration was held to keep the PSDB Cidadania Federation on the ticket; this "adds to the defense already filed and responds to the attempt to remove the federation from the ticket, supported by an intervention made at the drop of a hat in the party's state directory"; "the state convention of PSDB Cidadania, regularly convened and published, irrevocably decided to join the coalition supporting Raquel Lyra"; "this sovereign decision was overturned by a hasty intervention, without initiation of proceedings, without prior notification and without any opportunity for defense"; this act "does not respect the most basic guarantees of contradictory and broad defense"; "the precedents of TRE-PE and the TSE themselves are firm in demanding regular procedures and the right to defense before the dissolution of any party body"; "a maneuver carried out without these guarantees finds no support in jurisprudence".
According to the Superior Electoral Court (TSE), to calculate the time for free electoral propaganda, the 510 federal deputies elected by parties and federations that met the requirements of Constitutional Amendment nº 97/2017 are considered. From this distribution, the amount of advertising time is calculated and the number of daily insertions on radio and TV for each party is defined. Currently, João Campos' coalition represents parties that have a total of 206 federal deputies elected in 2022, against 173 for Raquel Lyra and 15 for Ivan Moraes (PSOL).
