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Brazilian opposition ready to present attractive, balanced presidential ticket

Monday, January 6th 2014 - 06:48 UTC
Full article 3 comments
According to O'Globo Marina Silva will run for vice-president alongside governor Eduardo Campos According to O'Globo Marina Silva will run for vice-president alongside governor Eduardo Campos

Former Brazilian environment minister Marina Silva has agreed to run for vice president in October elections on the presidential ticket of Eduardo Campos, the governor of Brazil’s Pernambuco state, O'Globo newspaper reported. Silva, who will make her intention publicly known by mid-February, could announce her candidacy at a January 17 meeting of leaders of Campos’ Brazilian Socialist Party (PSB).

 O'Globo did not cite sources for its story. Silva and Campos, two of the country’s most popular opposition leaders, surprised many when they said in October they would form an alliance but refused to say which of them would stand for president if they made a bid.

Pollsters say their decision to team up could form a serious challenge to President Dilma Rousseff’s hopes of re-election.

O'Globo reported that in exchange for Silva’s pledge to run alongside Campos, his PSB party had agreed to end its support for the re-election of Geraldo Alckmin of the centrist Brazilian Social Democracy Party (PSDB) as governor of Sao Paulo state.

Sao Paulo is Brazil’s richest, most-populous and most industrialized state. Alckmin is also a former presidential candidate.

The PSB has been working with the PSDB to create a wider electoral alliance in several states in hopes of boosting their chances to win governorships and the presidency in October.

While Campos has worked closely with Rousseff and her predecessor, Lula da Silva, his growing criticism of the government’s economic policies has won him increased support from business people, despite his party’s socialist roots.

Silva has won wide backing from more left-leaning Brazilians who believe Rousseff and Lula da Silva’s Workers’ Party has abandoned its environmental legacy in favor of economic development of Brazil’s Amazon and other dwindling ecosystems.

She was placed third in the 2010 presidential election that saw Rousseff elected and enjoys credibility among younger and better educated voters. In a November 30 poll of voting intentions by Brazilian research group Datafolha, Rousseff led with 47% while Campos, who remains largely unknown outside his home region, came in third with 11%.

In second place with 19% was PSDB candidate Aecio Neves, a senator, former governor of Minas Gerais state and grandson of a former president, Tancredo Neves.

Categories: Politics, Brazil, Latin America.

Top Comments

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  • ChrisR

    I really thought it was two blokes in the picture until I opened it and had a real good look.

    Token female I think.

    Can't make up their mind WHO will be president! That will encourage the voters to side with the failed former presidential candidate I would imagine, NOT.

    Jan 06th, 2014 - 10:29 am 0
  • GeoffWard2

    Not 'token' at all.
    She carries a big constituency but knows that the only hope against the spectrum-coalition is an alliance headed up by the best bet.
    Did not expect that the competition would come from 'our man in Pernambuco' - expected the 'Minas-effect'.

    Jan 06th, 2014 - 02:13 pm 0
  • BOTINHO

    No ChrisR, she is not a mere “ioken.”

    Marina Silva has served well in high office, and ran before against our current President. As GeoffWard2 points out, she has a good following.

    Calma Rapaz: This is just getting started.

    Jan 07th, 2014 - 09:41 am 0
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