MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Lula wins support for reform plan

President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva of Brazil gained support for his reform agenda in Congress at the weekend as newly elected legislators joined its ranks and voted for a pro-government leadership in both houses.

The Chamber of Deputies, the lower house of Congress, yesterday elected João Paulo Cunha of Mr da Silva's leftwing Workers' party (PT) as its speaker. Several opposition legislators have abandoned their parties since winning a mandate in October's general elections to join the governing alliance. As a result, Mr Lula da Silva's official support base has grown from 228 to an estimated 254 out of 513 seats in the house.

With eight defectors, the opposition social democratic PSDB party of departing President Fernando Henrique Cardoso lost the most seats of any party. The leftwing PTB and the centre-right Liberal party, which form part of Mr Lula da Silva's rainbow alliance, together won 23 seats.

The Senate on Saturday voted José Sarney, former president and for decades an influential figure in Brazilian politics, as its speaker. While his centrist PMDB party is officially in opposition, Mr Sarney and much of his party had backed Mr Lula da Silva during the election campaign. Negotiations last year to incorporate the PMDB into government had failed, but the election of Mr Sarney as Senate head reopened that possibility.

The government is preparing legislation for a series of ambitious and controversial reforms, including the unwieldy social security, tax and labour laws, which the government admits could make or break public accounts and Brazil's competitiveness in coming years.

Given Brazil's lack of party discipline, as much as a third of the opposition is willing to support Mr Lula da Silva, giving him more than the 308 votes necessary for constitutional reform.

Mr Sarney pledged to support the government's legislative agenda, saying: "It is time for the executive and the legislature to join forces." Yet some analysts warned that his and the PMDB's support might prove fickle. "He is not the kind of person who gives unconditional support and he was a difficult Senate president under the [previous administration]," said Christopher Garman, a political analyst in São Paulo.