Lóssio launches candidacy for Governor of Pernambuco.

Leonardo Lucena_PE247 – The PMDB will have a candidate for Governor of Pernambuco in 2014. At the 1st Meeting of Bloggers of the São Francisco Valley, in Petrolina, in the state's Sertão region, the PMDB member and mayor of the municipality, Júlio Lóssio, launched his candidacy for the Pernambuco Executive branch, which benefits, above all, President Dilma Rousseff (PT), with the formation of a platform in the state to support her candidacy for re-election. This is because the PMDB is the main ally of the PT member in the National Congress. The launch of the candidacy also obliges the PSB of Governor Eduardo Campos, a potential candidate for President of the Republic, to take a position as soon as possible, aiming at the formation of platforms both to support the party's candidate in the state and to support the governor's candidacy for the Palácio do Planalto in Pernambuco.

The PMDB's own candidacy for Governor is part of its strategy to have candidates in at least 20 states, a topic debated in May of this year at a meeting between the party's national president, Senator Valdir Raupp (RO), and representatives from various regional directorates. Interestingly, the mayor has as one of his adversaries within the Pernambuco PMDB the party's main figure in the state, Senator Jarbas Vasconcelos, former governor of Pernambuco. During the lecture, Lóssio emphasized that he will accept the state directorate's decision regarding the PMDB's candidacy, provided that the national leadership's decision is also accepted.

According to the mayor, if the PMDB's Pernambuco state leadership does not accept the decision of the National Directorate, he will leave the party. "If the party doesn't bow to the national decision, they give me the right to disregard their decision," declared Lóssio, who also sent a letter to Senator Raupp announcing his candidacy. The mayor expects to receive a response from the party, both at the state and national levels, by October 4th, as the deadline for party affiliations is the following day.

If the PMDB candidacy materializes, President Dilma Rousseff will be the main beneficiary. Besides the PMDB members, the PT candidate would have the PTB and PT supporting her in Pernambuco, although the PT has not yet made clear what direction they will take in 2014. It is known that PTB Senator Armando Monteiro (PE) is increasingly willing to run for governor of Pernambuco and would have the Workers' Party as his main ally in the state.

Even with the uncertainty surrounding the appointment of Pernambuco Governor Eduardo Campos (PSB), a potential presidential candidate, to succeed him, behind-the-scenes information suggests that he will hardly nominate someone outside the socialist party. If the name is indeed from the PSB – signs point to Vice-Governor João Lyra Neto, who will leave the PSD to join the PSB this month – the PTB will likely break its alliance with the PSB at the state level, just as the socialists broke with the PT at the national level to enable Campos's presidential candidacy in 2014.

The breakdown of the PSB-PTB alliance in the state would point to the candidacy of Armando Monteiro, who already appeared in a party advertisement in May of this year. With the possible candidacies of Armando and Lóssio for Governor of Pernambuco, President Dilma would be the main beneficiary because she would have two platforms in the state to support her. If both candidacies materialize, it remains to be seen how the PT will proceed – whether it will stick with Armando or Lóssio – and what the position of the PSB will be, which needs a strong platform to support the candidate indicated by Campos, as well as to sustain the governor's candidacy for the Presidency in his main electoral stronghold.