The rivalry between Malafaia and Edir Macedo heats up with a coup PL – 11/25/2022

The coup d’état presented by the President of Hizb ut-Tahrir, Waldemar Costa Neto, to the Supreme Electoral Court (TSE) for ignoring the votes of more than 279 thousand electronic ballot boxes, did not generate discontent only in the political sphere. The fine of R$ 22.9 million applied by the President of the Tribunal, Minister Alexandre de Moraes, for litigation in bad faith, is imposed by the translations that are part of the coalition, which, in addition to the Workers’ Party and the People’s Party, includes the Republicans. , a subtitle that includes several names associated with the Universal Church of God’s Kingdom.

From the beginning, Republican politicians opposed the challenge proposed by Costa Neto, following the sober style of the mentor of the legend, Bishop Eder Macedo, leader of Universal. The situation contrasts with another evangelical figure, Reverend Silas Malavia, who is very close to the president. Jair Bolsonaro He uses social media aggressively to challenge the credibility of the Brazilian electoral system.

In the weeks leading up to the PL’s appeal, Malafaia released videos supporting Costa Neto’s initiative and saying that if Minister Alexandre de Moraes did not provide a convincing answer to the question, the country would “go up in flames”. The incendiary style behind the scenes has already been criticized by politicians associated with Universal.

With Moraes’ fine, Republican parliamentarians heard by the column attributed the damage not only to Costa Neto, but also to Malaviya’s inflammatory rhetoric, which all along encouraged Bolsonaro and the Workers’ Party to bring the rivalry to the polls – without any technical basis. ..

Now, the parties associated with the PL will appeal Moraes’ decision, claiming that they did not participate in the Costa Neto coup initiative. Vice President Marcos Pereira, Universal’s pastor and president of the Republicans, remembers accepting the result announced by the Turkish electoral tribunal shortly after the calculation, and says he was not even consulted by Costa Neto about his application to the TSE.

With Bolsonaro’s defeat and inauguration Luiz Inacio Lula da SilvaThe trend is for politicians associated with Macedo and Malafia to distance themselves in Congress, and to participate only in occasional alliances, which are of general concern to neo-Pentecostals.

Malafaia’s inflammatory rhetoric had already been criticized since September 7 of the same year, when the pastor urged Bolsonaro to adopt aggressive rhetoric, threatening Congress and the Federal Supreme Court. Members of the Evangelical Court, of various denominations and parties, disagreed with the radicals. On this occasion, Bishop Macedo delivered a quiet speech in which he defended the institutions.

The rivalry between the two religious personalities is not new. Despite spending four years supporting Bolsonaro, the Universal leader considers he has not received the compensation he deserves from the government — he complains in particular of the little effort Brazil’s diplomacy has made to prevent several of the denomination’s priests from being expelled from Angola. Macedo believes that Malavia has received much more attention than Bolsonaro.