The opposition, resurgent
END OF PUBLIC'S HONEYMOON WITH LULA STIRS HIS ADVERSARIES
It is normal, when one side has won an election resoundingly, for the other side to disappear into the shadows, at least for the first few months after the new government takes office. Then the so-called honeymoon period, in which public and press adore the new occupants of power, draws to a close, as their human foibles and frailties are exposed and the harsher realities of government prevail over the sound and fury of their new-broom rhetoric. It is so the world over, and Brazil is no exception. The honeymoon with Lula is at an end, and the opposition, cowed by his electoral victory and the size of the government bloc in congress, has begun to flex its muscles.
PSDB and PFL. The two main opposition parties are the social democrats (PSDB) of Lula's predecessor in the presidency, Fernando Henrique Cardoso, and the conservative PFL. Traditional allies in power, the two parties came together again at the beginning of July to strike the opposition's first blow in its fight back into the limelight. Their move showed a keen sense of timing.
First, figures were revealed showing how in June, Lula's popularity rating had gone down for the first time since taking office in January, dropping from May's 75% to 70% last month. Then, a day later, Lula committed an almighty faux pas, receiving the leaders of the landless people's movement (MST) like old buddies (which many of them are) instead of as a political force with its own agenda, which does not coincide with that of the government. Meanwhile, a strike by public sector employees, traditionally staunch supporters of Lula's workers' party (PT), was scheduled for July 8.
CPI. Perceiving an opportunity to embarrass the government, the opposition seized it. The leader of the PSDB in the upper chamber, senator Arthur Virgílio (PSDB, Amazonas), surprised the government by collecting sufficient signatures from legislators to create a congressional board of inquiry (CPI) into the MST. Far from actually changing very much, a CPI like this would serve almost exclusively for mudslinging, with the visceral relations between the PT and the MST certain to provide his opponents with ample opportunity to score points off Lula and his party.
The government's response has been to seek to defuse the risk of a CPI, firstly by lobbying for it never to be formally put into operation, then secondly, assuming the first tactic fails, by seeking to broaden its scope. This would enable PT members on the CPI to introduce the subject of armed militias maintained by farmers precisely to keep MST invaders off their land, sometimes at the cost of lives.
On the left. It is not only his opponents around the centre of the political spectrum that can smell Lula's blood, either. Further to the left, the PT's arch-rival, the democratic labour party (PDT), is moving to oust one of its members, Miro Teixeira, for accepting Lula's personal invitation to the ministry of communications. Would the party have been so keen to distance itself from Lula if his government were still riding the crest of a wave of popularity right now?
A smaller leftist rival, the Brazilian socialist party (PSB), has its own showcase state government in Rio de Janeiro, where former governor Anthony Garotinho got his wife elected to perpetuate their power in the state. There has been talk of ousting him from the PSB, but the controversial Garotinho, now security secretary in his wife's administration has, told historic PSB leader Miguel Arraes that he would like to stay. Garotinho wants a power base and party structure from which to launch another presidential bid four years from now.