Weekly Report - 13 January 2004

Chalk and cheese would be too lame a simile to illustrate how opposite are the stances of the Partido da Frente Liberal (PFL) and the Partido Democrático Trabalhista (PDT). Still, they have discovered that they have one thing in common: a burning desire to block any expansion of the ruling PT's municipal powerbase.

On 7 January, the leaders of both parties, Jorge Bornhausen (PFL) and Leonel Brizola (PDT), sat down to start constructing alliances for the municipal elections due in October. Their aim is to join forces wherever they are separately not strong enough to overwhelm the PT. This they describe as `a pragmatic alliance'.

The PFL is the most conservative of Brazil's major parties, and was allied with President Fernando Henrique Cardoso throughout his eight-year tenure of office (1995-2002). It is strongly committed to enabling market forces to rule the economy and to the privatisation of state enterprises. The PDT, a member of the Socialist International, is just as strongly anti-privatisation and pro-state intervention. It supported Lula da Silva in the presidential run-off and initially backed his government, but later shifted into opposition on the grounds that Lula's economic policies were a mere continuation of Cardoso's. This, says Brizola, is no obstacle to working together: `We are not interested in an ideological alliance. We wish to act against concrete situations. We are concerned about the situation of the country, which is undergoing great difficulties.'

The task the PFL-PDT alliance has set itself is not monumental. At present, the PT controls only 183 of Brazil's 5,561 municipalities. Its stated intention is to field candidates in all municipalities in October, but there is a big difference between contesting the elections and winning them.