Moraes crisis weighs more heavily on Lula than scandal involving Lulinha

President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva is trying to distance himself from the crisis surrounding Supreme Federal Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes. But the damage is already weighing more heavily on Lula’s image than allegations involving his son, Fábio Luís Lula da Silva, known as Lulinha, according to this analysis.

The controversy centers on revelations about Moraes’s involvement with former banker Daniel Vorcaro. Opposition criticism and Lula’s distancing from the justice have deepened the strain and raised questions about the Supreme Court’s future, particularly because Moraes could head the institution in 2027.

Three other episodes tied to corruption themes in this year’s election have also hurt Lula’s popularity and polling performance. None, the article argues, carries the same potential to cost him reelection. Lula’s allies still believe he can win by a narrow margin, but anxiety about the result has spread. His statements and public gestures are being carefully calculated, while the Planalto and campaign monitor social media for signs linking the president to Moraes.

The article reviews earlier controversies. The first, linked to the Federal Police’s ninth phase of Operation Compliance Zero on June 18, brought the Case Master closer to the Workers’ Party and the Planalto after government Senate leader Jaques Wagner became a target. That episode soon faded. In August, suspicions in the INSS fraud scandal reached Lula’s inner circle after former chief of staff Marco Aurélio Santana Ribeiro, known as Marcola, was reported to have received money from lobbyist Roberta Luchsinger. Lula dismissed Marcola before the disclosure, and that case also did not attach itself to the president.

The same month, Federal Police documents indicated that Lulinha had taken an active role in an alleged influence-peddling scheme and had been protected by Luchsinger, according to the article. The report says the latest Moraes controversy has proved more politically dangerous because Lula’s image became linked to the justice after the Jan. 8 coup-related riots, while new messages between Moraes and Vorcaro could threaten the president’s reelection.