PSD Stays Neutral as Lula and Flávio Bolsonaro Compete for Its Support

PSD Stays Neutral as Lula and Flávio Bolsonaro Compete for Its Support
PSD president Gilberto Kassab said the party would not formally support either Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva or Flávio Bolsonaro in the presidential runoff, scheduled for October 25. Instead, PSD state branches, lawmakers, leaders, members and activists may decide individually which candidate to support.

The national leadership frames that position as continuity rather than withdrawal. Kassab said the party had already allowed state organisations to build their own alliances during the first round, given the sharply different electoral circumstances across Brazil. “Each state directory, parliamentarian, party leader, affiliate and activist will have freedom to define their support,” he said.

That decentralised approach contrasts with a unified national endorsement, but it also reflects the PSD’s broad regional footprint. The party’s presidential ticket, led by former Goiás governor Ronaldo Caiado with Kassab as his running mate, won 2.19% of valid votes and finished fifth. At the same time, PSD elected 44 federal deputies, two senators, 103 state deputies and four governors, giving it substantial influence regardless of the runoff result.

Caiado had signalled before the party decision that he would consult Kassab before taking a personal position. Kassab’s statement casts the campaign as an alternative to the polarisation surrounding the leading candidates, saying it had been “propositional” and had not appealed to “extremes.”

Both accounts describe neutrality as a practical accommodation of local alliances. They also point to a wider political calculation: by avoiding a national choice, PSD can retain dialogue with either eventual winner while allowing competing internal factions to act without breaching party discipline.

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