Weekly Report - 19 July 2012 (WR-12-28)

Sérgio Cabral, the ambitious government-allied state governor of Rio de Janeiro, shocked the ruling Partido dos Trabalhadores (PT) this week with the announcement that he intends to step down early, in late 2013, in favour of his deputy and fellow Partido do Movimento Democrático Brasileiro (PMDB) colleague Luiz Fernando Pezão, in order to allow Pezão to “gain muscle” ahead of the 2014 general election. That was news to the PT, which had been working on the basis of assumed PMDB support for a 2014 gubernatorial bid by its local senator, Lindbergh Farias.