Weekly Report - 11 October 2005

At the time of press the contest for the leadership of the ruling Partido dos Trabalhadores (PT) was still undecided. The candidate of the pro-government Campo Majoritário, Ricardo Berzoini, was ahead of his rival, Raúl Pont, by less than three percentage points with more than 30,000 votes still to be tallied. This situation - plus the defections that have taken place, particularly since the first round of the PT's internal elections - leaves the government considerably weakened.