Pimenta da Veiga denies running for office in the capital of Minas Gerais.
Former minister under FHC rules out a return to politics as a candidate for mayor of Belo Horizonte for the PSDB, which reiterates its support for the re-election of Marcio Lacerda.
Minas 247 - Former Minister of Communications Pimenta da Veiga denied the possibility of being the PSDB candidate for mayor of Belo Horizonte. His name, who also served as mayor of the capital in 1988, circulated among PSDB members as a homegrown solution to the impasse surrounding support for Marcio Lacerda's reelection – the real problems lie in the form of support offered by the PT in the coalition. The PSDB doesn't want the PT to secure the vice-mayor candidacy alongside Lacerda and also the proportional representation alliance for city councilors, which would give the rival party a very strong presence in the coalition.
"I was mentioned with some feedback about that possibility, but nothing concrete," Pimenta da Veiga told the press. "I have no intention of running for office again."
On Monday, Patrus Ananias, also a former minister in Lula's government, admitted to 247 the possibility of being Lacerda's running mate. This hypothesis is defended by some members of the Workers' Party (PT) as a solution to another impasse: the party's division regarding the vice-mayor candidate in the elections. Patrus, however, made a series of restrictions to accept the position, the main one being that he would not participate in primaries, acting as a consensus candidate within the PT.
On the PSDB side, Danilo de Castro, the state secretary of government, and the state president of the PSDB in Minas Gerais, federal deputy Marcus Pestana, also denied, like Pimenta da Veiga, any alternative to Marcio Lacerda's name for the elections. "We will repeat the winning alliance of Aécio and Pimentel (Fernando Pimentel, from the PT, mayor at the time and current minister in Dilma Rousseff's government) in 2008, this year, with Lacerda and Anastasia (Antonio Anastasia, current governor of Minas Gerais, from the PSDB)," says Pestana.