By Camilo Diniz
Gilberto Kassab, national president of the Social Democratic Party (PSD), a centrist party, said Brazil's right came out of the elections stronger than it was under Jair Bolsonaro, Brazil's president from 2019 to 2022. He also predicted that the right will be isolated in the Chamber of Deputies, the lower house of Congress, during President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva's new term. He spoke on the program Canal Livre, on the Band network, which aired Sunday (Nov. 1). The remarks were also circulated on the X account @EleicaoBr2026.
"They're already knocking on the door"
According to the outlet Jornal Razão, Kassab was answering journalist Thays Freitas, who asked whether a more hostile Congress would force the government to move toward the center. He called that thesis "a wrong reading."
"The left would be isolated if the president were Flávio. Or do you think that in a Lula government these center parties won't make an effort to be part of the government?" he asked. Flávio is Flávio Bolsonaro, a son of Jair Bolsonaro. When an interviewer noted that those parties are already signaling to the Planalto, the presidential palace, Kassab added: "They're already knocking on the door."
A bigger right than in the Bolsonaro era
Kassab said the right has indeed grown. In his account, the last right Brazil had before the current one was that of Paulo Maluf, and Bolsonarismo today is larger than it was during Jair Bolsonaro's four years in office. "But it will be isolated in the Chamber," he said. On the graphic shown by the program, the Liberal Party (PL), Bolsonaro's party, has 121 federal deputies, the largest caucus in the house.
Kassab said the Chamber is the house with the most power over the government, "including in promoting impeachment," and that the president "will have no difficulties" there. "Flávio as president, he would have, like, a crushing majority and the left would be isolated. Lula as president, I think it's the opposite," he declared.
The Senate is the obstacle
In the Senate the picture is different. According to Jornal Razão, Kassab said the arithmetic is a challenge for the government. By his count, the PL would be only 13 votes short of a majority, and those votes could come from conservative senators in other parties.
Citing the outlet Tribuna do Norte, the PSD leader also said his party could support Lula, provided the Workers' Party (PT) president builds a government oriented to the center. "If he builds a government for the center, making clear what its main lines will be in conducting economic policy, supporting some of the country's structural reforms, especially electoral reform and some judicial reforms, why not support him?" he asked.
Why it matters
The fight now shifts to how Lula assembles his governing coalition. Centrist parties are bargaining for influence. The right is trying to turn the largest caucus in the lower house and a narrow margin in the Senate into real power to check the government. The Planalto will have to show what price it is willing to pay for governability. The next moves by the PSD and other centrist parties will show whether Kassab's reading holds.
VDD Analysis
Kassab himself admits the right came out of the elections bigger than ever, with the largest caucus in the lower house and a Senate majority 13 votes away. If the government secures breathing room only by opening the door to centrist parties in exchange for posts and concessions, the question is who really governs. It is up to the right to turn this electoral capital into firm oversight and clear agendas, without letting fisiologismo (the trading of government posts for political support) dissolve the mandate voters gave it at the polls.
