LatinNews Daily Report - 28 February 2012

Brazil | The gloves come off in São Paulo.  José Serra of the main opposition Partido da Social Democracia Brasileira (PSDB) announced his bid for the mayoralty of São Paulo on 27 February, prompting the federally-ruling Partido dos Trabalhadores (PT) to launch an emergency outreach to its coalition allies in order to prevent the potential isolation of its candidate for São Paulo, Fernando Haddad. Haddad was personally selected for the race by the former president Lula da Silva (2003-2010). According to local press reports, Lula and the PT are now pressuring President Dilma Rousseff to appease certain coalition partners, including the Partido da República (PR) and the Partido Democrático Trabalhista (PDT), by acquiescing to their preferred choice of replacement ministers for those previously ousted in corruption scandals. Rousseff would prefer to nominate the replacements herself, ignoring the party pressures.  Apparently, Lula also has the union leader and federal PDT deputy Paulo Pereira da Silva (Paulinho) in his sights, in an effort to prevent the PDT’s approximation with the PSDB in São Paulo. Finally, Lula is also manoeuvring to win over the Partido Socialista Brasileiro (PSB), which though a coalition partner is allied with the PSDB in São Paulo. The PSB is selling its leader, Eduardo Campos, as a vice-presidential nominee for Rousseff in 2014, so Lula has plenty of leverage with the party.

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