Dilma in Pernambuco seeks votes from Campos with Lula.
The president made her first electoral foray into the state of former governor Eduardo Campos; received with celebration in Petrolina (right), she recorded scenes for the PT's electoral program, alongside former president Lula in Floresta; while the PSDB's high command met in São Paulo to correct its strategy following Marina Silva's entry into the race, the PSB suffered from internal ruptures caused by the change of candidate; both parties fear that votes from the Northeast region that belonged to Campos will migrate, in majority, to Dilma; "Only those who don't do work don't delay it," said the president while inspecting works on the São Francisco River transposition project, planned for 2010, but expected to be completed next year.
247 - For the first time since the death of Eduardo Campos, the PT candidate for re-election, Dilma Rousseff, landed in Pernambuco this Thursday, the 21st. The former governor, who died in a plane crash last week, had 30% of the voting intentions in the state, according to the latest polls, losing only to the president, who has 40%. The PSB, which launched Marina Silva in Campos' place, and the PSDB of Aécio Neves now fear that the votes from the Northeast region that belonged to the Pernambuco native will migrate, for the most part, to the PT candidate.
Accompanied by former president Lula, Dilma arrived in the morning in Petrolina, in the Pernambuco hinterland, where she was received at the Senador Nilo Coelho airport amidst applause and handshakes from the local population. Afterwards, she traveled by helicopter to Cabrobró and Floresta to inspect works integrating the São Francisco River. The president also recorded segments for her electoral campaign in Pernambuco.
In a statement to journalists in Floresta, Dilma emphasized her actions in the region. "Only those who don't do projects don't delay them. Those who have never done any projects in Brazil, who have never left projects planned, are the ones who have never been late," she stated. Later in the afternoon, the Workers' Party member has an agenda in Paulo Afonso, in the interior of Bahia.
She then went on to defend the president of Petrobras, Graça Foster, who is accused of donating properties to her children in order to circumvent a decision by the TCU (Federal Court of Accounts) that could freeze her assets. She said she found it "extremely wrong" to use "Brazil's largest company" as a "political weapon." The president cited scandals that occurred during the administration of former president Fernando Henrique Cardoso and questioned why they were not investigated "with the same zeal."
"I deeply regret the attempt, in every election, to first create a Parliamentary Commission of Inquiry into Petrobras, and second, to create this type of problem. I wonder, why hasn't anyone investigated the sinking of the largest oil platform with this same zeal? Because, despite being the subject of a popular action, nobody investigates the asset swap made with Repsol," declared Dilma Rousseff. "I think it's extremely wrong to always use the largest oil company in Latin America and the largest company in Brazil as a political weapon during elections," she added.