PT and PSB unite and isolate Ciro.

The national agreement that the PT (Workers' Party) reached with the PSB (Brazilian Socialist Party), encompassing 11 states, including Pernambuco and Minas Gerais, is undoubtedly advantageous to the PT and Lula. Although there are many protests from PT members in Pernambuco, indignant at the withdrawal of Marília Arraes from the race, it is necessary to view the alliance from a national perspective.

In short, what the PT (Workers' Party) did was trade Pernambuco for Minas Gerais, the third largest electorate in the country. Marília Arraes is young and promising, with a bright future ahead of her. The PT leadership correctly understood that at this moment it would be more strategic to guarantee Fernando Pimentel's reelection in Minas Gerais, with the withdrawal of Márcio Lacerda of the PSB (Brazilian Socialist Party), who would have been a very strong rival to the PT governor, than to bet on the victory of Arraes' granddaughter in the Pernambuco election.

From both an economic and electoral standpoint, Minas Gerais is more important to Lula's election than Pernambuco. The numbers don't lie. The Minas Gerais case alone would justify the agreement. There are nine other states in the alliance. But most importantly, nationally, the PSB's neutrality will isolate Ciro. He has no one left to ally with. His last hope is gone.

To contest the presidency only with the PDT – since the PCdoB is likely to join the PT-PSB alliance, by all indications – is to flirt with electoral defeat. A defeat that is foretold. One way out would be for Ciro to finally seek out the PT to ally with Lula instead of waiting for the PT to approach him. Alone, Ciro tends to lose; united with the PT, PSB, and PCdoB, the group tends to win.