PSDB application instability postpones the choice of candidate for the presidential race

Virgílio and Doria at the press conference. (Wesley Diego/ Cenarium)

Wesley Diego – from Cenarium

BRASÍLIA (DF) – The application developed for the PSDB’s primaries was unstable during all Sunday, 21, and caused frustration to the tucanato. Only 3.5 thousand supporters were able to vote until 5:00 pm, the time initially scheduled to close the voting. In the morning, when complaints from voters began, the final time was extended to 6pm. Given the time, the party’s decision was to paralyze the voting and keep the votes already registered at the national directory. “The votes registered this Sunday are preserved and the PSDB is defining, together with the candidates, when the process will be resumed”, the party said in a statement.

João Doria and Arthur Virgílio made a joint statement at night. They both defend the broad participation of all affiliates and that the internal elections should be held only with electronic ballot boxes. The two even suggested that voting should be resumed next Sunday, 28th, from 6am to 6pm. The intention would be to guarantee transparency in the process: “It is urgent and necessary that this company hired by PSDB guarantees that those who access the application could have their vote validated”, said the governor of São Paulo.

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Throughout Sunday afternoon, the team hired by PSDB to develop the application tried to reactivate it, but without success. The Foundation of Support to the Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul (FAURGS), responsible for the app, said in a statement to the press that it is still investigating the causes of the instability and, when there is proof of the reason for the failure, it will be made public. “The votes registered so far will not be lost, and the system’s security was not affected. The entire process is being monitored by technicians representing the three registered slates, ensuring fairness and transparency”, says FAURGS.

Bruno Araújo, president of PSDB, speaking to journalists. (Wesley Diego/ Cenarium)

After a meeting with Bruno Araújo with all those involved, Doria said that the limit for defining the toucanvias is next Sunday. Then Araújo didn’t pin down the date and said that it will depend on the technical feasibility of the application. “There is something bigger than the will of the two governors, which is technical feasibility. That will be the emperor of the process”, Araújo told reporters after the meeting. The PSDB president confirmed that the previas are “irreversible” within the party and said that the result that will be announced at the end of the process will be “definitive”.

The PSDB split: Doria x Leite

Candidates embraced at the beginning of the PSDB’s preliminary event. (Wesley Diego/Cenarium)

A clear split has divided the PSDB. An example of this split are the different solutions proposed by Doria and Leite for finalizing the primaries. During the afternoon, Eduardo Leite’s team defended postponing the previas until 2022, annulling the entire process up to this point, including zeroing all votes. The version was denied by the governor of Rio Grande do Sul. Doria and Virgílio insinuated that Eduardo Leite’s campaign has benefited from the paralysis of the app, saying that the idea of creating the app was from the directory of Rio Grande do Sul, a state governed by Leite. The former senator from Amazonas also spared no criticism and cited nominally who he believes is causing the split in the party:

“I see two important questions to ask. The first is that we have a bench that has behaved like a Bolsonarist throughout the most relevant votes. And the second is that I think the PSDB is full of good apples, but there is one that is spoiling the others, and I’ll give you a name and surname: Aécio Neves”, accuses Virgílio. Aécio Neves is a great opponent of João Doria, to whom Virgílio openly campaigns. The former mayor of Manaus even said that he is a losing vote in the previas: “I am an anti-candidate and therefore free as a bird to speak whatever I want to speak.

The warlike climate that has broken out in recent days and subsided yesterday, the day of the previas, puts at risk the unity of the party, a subject exhaustively questioned to the candidates. João Doria said that the party will undergo a natural process of purification: “It’s clear that most of the PSDB wants to vote and exercise the democratic vote, they want transparency in the process. Those who wish otherwise will have the option to choose another party, they will look for a party that suits their convenience”, concluded Doria.

Eduardo Leite at the press conference. (Wesley Diego/ Cenarium)

Previously, Eduardo Leite guaranteed in debates and interviews that he would not leave the PSDB in case he was defeated in the previas. But, when asked if he would leave the party if he lost the presidential race, he was not as categorical as before. “I cannot make any kind of analysis about the future before the conclusion of this process”, says Leite.

What are the PSDB’s primaries like?

The model for the primaries was imported from the United States, where the two major parties, Democrats and Republicans, organize an internal dispute to choose their candidate for the presidency. It is the first time that the PSDB adopts the American way to nominate its candidate. Almost 45 thousand Toucan affiliates registered to vote this Sunday. According to a PSDB leader, this method was chosen because it is more democratic.

The voting took place in a hybrid manner between electronic ballot boxes provided by the Electoral Justice exclusively for the occasion and through the application. The members who have a mandate voted in person at the ballot boxes. All other supporters cast their votes via mobile application.

Eduardo Leite votes in an electronic ballot box provided by the TSE. (Wesley Diego/ Cenarium)

But the votes do not have equal value as in a common election. Four groups with a weight of 25% each were created: group 1 is for members without a mandate; group 2 is for mayors and vice mayors; group 3 is for city councilmen, state and district lawmakers; and group 4 is for governors, vice-governors, former presidents, and the current national president of PSDB, Bruno Araújo, senators, and federal lawmakers. Whoever reaches 50% of the votes plus one wins the primaries.

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