Zema seeks to capitalize on STF crisis and revive claims that he warned about justices first

Romeu Zema is trying to turn Brazil’s Supreme Federal Court crisis into a political opening. The Novo presidential candidate plans to intensify his attacks on the justices and draw attention back to his campaign.

The strategy follows a disappointing polling result for his party. A Datafolha survey released on Thursday gave Zema 2% of voting intentions. The party sees little room for growth while Flávio Bolsonaro, of the PL, remains stronger in the race, and it assesses that both candidates are competing for much of the same pro-Bolsonaro electorate.

Since messages between former banker Daniel Vorcaro and Justice Alexandre de Moraes became public on Tuesday, Zema has published 25 Instagram posts about the issue. Most demanded Moraes’s impeachment and arrest. Zema is also reviving his claim that he was among the first politicians to warn about what he calls the “ministers’ free-for-all.”

In one video, he says he was the first governor in Brazilian history to file an impeachment request against a Supreme Court justice. On Friday, Zema reposted STF President Edson Fachin’s defense of ending the fake-news investigation overseen by Moraes, while again calling for the justice’s arrest. “Our pressure and a president WITHOUT A TIED PAST are essential for this little dictator project to face impeachment and go to jail,” he said. His stance also indirectly targets Flávio Bolsonaro, who has strengthened his own calls for Moraes’s impeachment. Zema argues that other candidates are taking positions now, but that he did so before the messages became public.

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Our pressure and a president WITHOUT A TIED PAST are essential for this little dictator project to face impeachment and go to jail.