MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Brazil President Unveils Cabinet Changes

Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, whose roots are in the Marxist left, cemented on Friday his alliance with conservative allies by giving them two Cabinet posts in a government reshuffle.

With a view to the October municipal elections, the leader of the Workers Party, or PT, allotted two ministries to the Brazilian Democratic Movement, known as the PMDB.

Congressman Eunicio Lopes de Oliveira and Sen. Amir Lando, respectively, will head the ministries of Communications and Social Security, replacing Miro Teixeira and Ricardo Berzoini.

"We cemented this political alliance because the PT understood the need to have the PMDB in the ruling coalition and the PMDB understood that, because of its history, it could not deny (us) this support," Lula said during the official announcement.

The president thus fulfilled his promise to Brazil's largest party, which - with a plurality in the Senate and the second-biggest bloc in the lower house - helped push Lula's main initiatives through Congress last year.

After helping secure approval for Lula's bills to overhaul taxes and pensions, the PMDB started making demands for Cabinet posts.

In October, Brazilians will elect mayors and councillors in all 5,560 of the country's municipalities. The PT currently holds 187 mayoralties while the PMDB has big blocs of council members in many other cities.

The alliance also assures Lula a virtually insuperable majority in Congress. Since its creation in 1985, when democracy was restored after two decades of military rule, the PMDB has supported every government.

With the reshuffle, the government has 28 officials with ministerial rank.