Temer's candidate, Júnior Friboi, is struggling in Goiás.
Businessman, an alternative to the PMDB leadership's dominance of the eternal chieftain Iris Rezende, boasts a meager 2,1% of voting intentions in a poll led by the PSDB's Perillo; Iris appears in second place, with numbers that overshadow Júnior's efforts to become viable; the two are waging a bloody behind-the-scenes war over the nomination of the PMDB candidate who will run for the Palácio das Esmeraldas in 2014.
Goiás247_ The Vice President of the Republic, Michel Temer, must have had a headache upon learning the numbers from the Serpes/O Popular poll. His pre-candidate for governor of Goiás, businessman José Batista Júnior, known as Júnior Friboi, has only 2,1% of the voting intentions and is in sixth place among the prospective candidates for the Palácio das Esmeraldas (Governor's Palace). Temer attended Friboi's affiliation ceremony with the PMDB party in the first half of the year and showered praise on his new party colleague.
Temer faces yet another dilemma. In July, Júnior Friboi's voting intentions in the same Serpes poll were at 4,7%. There has been a drop of more than two percentage points. The PMDB candidate with the highest ranking in the poll is Iris Rezende, who came in second with 25,6%, behind Marconi Perillo (PSDB), who obtained 27,2%.
The national PMDB party doesn't want Iris precisely for that reason. Temer and Valdir Raupp believe that Iris doesn't have the potential or the stamina (he'll be 80 years old in 2014) to defeat Perillo. It would be the third defeat for the PMDB leader at the hands of the PSDB candidate. However, his protégé Júnior Friboi, who even has the sympathy of PT members in the Planalto Palace, is not gaining traction in his pre-candidacy.
First, because his name is not known to the general public and the businessman has no history in politics. Second, Iris Rezende has total control of the party and, behind the scenes, is hindering Júnior's progress. Third: overshadowed by Iris's dominance, the member of the family that owns JBS Friboi, immersed in an internal party crisis, is unable to maintain a positive agenda for the state.
Júnior Friboi and Iris Rezende are waging an open war within the party. One wants to anticipate the choice of candidate in order to have a chance to rise in the polls. The other knows that his best chance is to boast good electoral numbers. Without many alternatives, the businessman is willing to do anything and doesn't shy away from facing Iris in an internal battle. While the PMDB wastes time with these petty squabbles, Marconi Perillo is implementing an agenda of inspections and inaugurations of works throughout the state and in the capital, recovering the popularity damaged by Operation Monte Carlo.