Jair Bolsonaro left Brazil for Florida on Friday and will not hand the presidential sash to his successor, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva.
Although a mere formality (the only requirement for an incoming president is to take the oath of office before Congress), the handing over of the presidential sash is a tradition of more than a century in Brazil, and was codified into a 1972 decree.
The last head of state not to hand the sash to their successor was João Baptista Figueiredo, the last of the military presidents who ruled during the 1964-1985 dictatorship. Vice President Hamilton Mourão could fulfill that role as he became acting president the moment Mr. Bolsonaro left for Florida — but he said he would not.
The inauguration’s ceremonial team, headed by First Lady Rosângela da Silva, has kept plans secret for handing the sash to Lula. Either House Speaker Arthur Lira or Senate President Rodrigo Pacheco could be called up for the role. But the likeliest solution is that a group of people representing Brazilian diversity will do so.
Congresswoman Gleisi Hoffmann, chairwoman of Lula’s Workers Party, reinforced that possibility. When asked by reporters who would hand Lula the sash, she said: “The people.” And on Saturday, future Communications Minister Paulo Pimenta said “it is hard for one person to represent Brazil as a whole.”
Search
