Impeached and without a party, Wilson Witzel wants to run again for governor of Rio

Former governor of Rio de Janeiro Wilson Witzel (no party) wants to run again for the state government in the 2026 elections. An ally of former president Jair Bolsonaro at the time of his election, Witzel won the 2018 election and remained in office until 2021, when he was impeached on charges of corruption in the health sector during the Covid-19 pandemic.

In a video released this Monday, 9th, Witzel stated that he had been the target of a “public lynching”. “I was removed before any definitive conviction, without any right to defense,” he said. By ten votes to zero, the then-removed governor lost his position after having his impeachment confirmed in April 2021. At the time, the current governor Cláudio Castro held the position on an interim basis and, with Witzel’s impeachment, he became effective, a position he still holds today.

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The former governor declared that he intends to return to public life “more experienced and cautious”. “I return with a deeper understanding of the real workings of power and the inner workings of the Rio de Janeiro system,” he stated. According to him, when he came to government he wanted to “change everything quickly”, but now he recognizes that “lasting changes require institutional dialogue, planning and technical shielding of decisions”.

Opportunity with security!

Witzel said he will announce his affiliation with a center-right party by April 4. In 2018, when he was elected, he was a member of the extinct Christian Social Party (PSC), an acronym that also elected Jair Bolsonaro to the Presidency and which was incorporated by Podemos in 2023.

In an election considered surprising, Witzel won the election with almost 60% of the valid votes, defeating the mayor of Rio, Eduardo Paes (PSD), who this year should once again run for state government. Witzel assessed the electoral scenario as undefined, but stated that Paes tends to be the most left-wing candidate, due to his alliance with President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (PT). “On the right side, there is still no definition of who the candidate will be. I guarantee that I will be a candidate for a center-right party”, he declared.