PMDB to decide if it stays with government or walks away from ruling coalition

The Party of the Brazilian Democratic Movement (PMDB), Brazil's largest party, is to decide if it stays in the governing coalition on Tuesday afternoon (Mar. 29). This decision has the potential to change the balance of power in the federal government and Congress.

Faced with the threat of losing support from the main party in the governing coalition, President Dilma Rousseff said she “would really like PMDB to stay” on the government's side, but she will abide by the party's choice. She said she relies on the commitment of party members in cabinet, including Health Minister Marcelo Castro, and the Minister of Science, Technology and Innovation, Celso Pansera. The two are favorable to the existing alliance and think it would be reckless to walk away.

Ministers in the party are planning to meet the day after the vote of the national party committee and decide their own individual position to their party's choice. The national party chair, Vice-President Michel Temer, canceled a trip to Lisbon set to take place on Monday (28) to be at his party's vote.

Last Wednesday (23), Temer met with Senator Aécio Neves, the national chair of PSDB and one of Rousseff's fiercest opponents, to discuss Brazil's current political situation. On the same day, there were coordination meetings among government supporters, with Senate President Renan Calheiros, former president José Sarney, and other allies of Rousseff's government and of former president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva.

It will take a majority of 125 of the party's voting members to make a winning decision. Last Thursday (24), the PMDB committee in Rio de Janeiro, the largest regional caucus within the party with 12 votes, hinted it chooses to withdraw support for the government.

Translated by Mayra Borges