Who is Ciro Nogueira?
Ciro Nogueira Lima Filho entered the Chamber of Deputies at 26 and served about 16 years there before moving to the Senate in 2011. He leads the Progressistas, a party that has backed the governments of Lula, Dilma Rousseff, Michel Temer and Jair Bolsonaro. Under Bolsonaro he was chief of staff, the Casa Civil minister, from August 2021 to December 2022. In 2026 he sought a third Senate term for Piauí but came third with 24.68 percent of valid votes. Marcelo Castro (MDB) and Júlio César (PSD) took the two seats. He remains a senator until January 2027 and declared his vote for Flávio Bolsonaro on 1 August 2026.
Previously: Chief of Staff of the Presidency, Casa Civil minister under Jair Bolsonaro (August 2021 to December 2022) · Federal deputy for Piauí (four terms, about 16 years)
Documented positions
- He voted for the 2017 labour reform, which the Senate passed 50 to 26.Source: congressoemfoco.com.br
- He voted for the June 2021 provisional measure enabling the privatisation of Eletrobras, approved 42 to 37.Source: cartacapital.com.br
- As minister in July 2022 he said the government aimed to pay the raised R$600 Auxílio Brasil from the amendment costing about R$41.25 billion.Source: poder360.com.br
- In November 2022 he said the transition amendment should guarantee only the R$600 benefit and the real rise in the minimum wage.Source: poder360.com.br
- He voted for the April 2024 constitutional amendment criminalising possession of any quantity of drugs, passed 53 to 9 in the first round.Source: cnnbrasil.com.br
- He voted for the December 2025 sentencing bill benefiting those convicted over the 8 January 2023 attacks, approved 48 to 25.Source: cartacapital.com.br
- He is first signatory of a pending amendment to lower the age of criminal responsibility to 16.Source: congressoemfoco.com.br
- On 1 August 2026 he said he would vote for Flávio Bolsonaro, as a personal choice, while the PP and União Brasil federation stayed neutral in the first round.Source: revistaoeste.com
Record
Nogueira's career has run through the Centrão, the bloc of parties that trades support for positions. He faced two Supreme Court inquiries over alleged bribes, and a complaint tied to the so-called PP gang was rejected by the court's Second Panel in March 2021. On 7 May 2026 the Federal Police searched addresses linked to him in the fifth phase of Operation Compliance Zero on Banco Master. A court decision cites an August 2024 amendment he filed, raising the deposit guarantee to R$1 million, which police say Master's advisers drafted. He is under investigation and has not been charged. His defence rejects any wrongdoing and calls the measures premature.
Supporters credit him with brokering majorities for governments of every stripe. Critics, including the Gazeta do Povo columnist who wrote that he lost the right's trust, charge him with pragmatism without a fixed line.
