Temer defends PSB's continued membership in the allied base.

PE247- The PMDB wants to keep the PSB in its allied base despite the increasingly frequent criticisms that the socialists have been making of President Dilma Rousseff's (PT) government. According to the Vice-President of the Republic, Michel Temer (PMDB), the government must work to keep the governor of Pernambuco and potential candidate for the 2014 presidential elections, Eduardo Campos (PSB), in the government's support base. According to Temer, there is still a possibility that Campos will drop out of the race for the presidency. For the PMDB member, there is still time for this, although the PT believes that it is time to break the historic alliance between the parties.  

"I think that those of us in government should still make an effort to ensure that Governor Eduardo Campos, who has always been with our base, remains in our base. We have a lot of time ahead of us; it's still too early for definitive decisions," said Temer during the 12th Business Forum of Comandatuba. But while the PMDB believes there is still time to reverse the virtual socialist candidacy so that Campos remains in the allied base, the PT no longer seems to believe in this possibility.

In conversations with allies, former President Lula has reportedly said that he finds it difficult to believe Eduardo will drop out of the race for the presidency. This comment was allegedly made after the airing of the PSB party's program last week, which featured a barrage of harsh criticism of the Federal Government.

The guide served as a trigger for the PT to attack the PSB. The party, along with leaders from various allied parties, has been demanding that President Dilma Rousseff (PT) take over the positions held by the socialists in the federal administration, including the Ministry of National Integration, the Special Secretariat of Ports, and the São Francisco Hydroelectric Company (Chesf), and hand them over to parties that support the PT's reelection plans and are pressuring the government for greater participation in the government.  

Dilma has been reluctant to be singled out as the one responsible for the definitive break. At the moment, she hopes that the decision to leave will be made by Campos himself, something that also seems unlikely, since he has not yet officially launched his candidacy and insists that he will only discuss 2014 in 2014.

Apparently, the only alternative capable of leading Campos and the PSB to abandon their national project would be Lula's candidacy for President. Since Dilma's candidacy is already in full swing, this hypothesis would be practically ruled out. However, one possibility is concentrated in the hands of the former president. In recent days, information leaked that Eduardo was trying to schedule a meeting with Lula for mid-May. Lula, however, believes that this meeting should only take place in the second half of the year, with a clearer definition of the electoral scenario for 2014.

For Lula, this scenario does not appear at all favorable to the socialist, at least not at this moment. With more than a year to go before the elections, Eduardo would have no way to justify his break with the government and move closer to a center-right party, distancing himself from successful social projects, especially in the Northeast, where the PSB holds its greatest political and electoral capital.

A political break at this moment would not be in the PT's best interest. Since Senator Aécio Neves from Minas Gerais, also a pre-candidate for the PSDB presidential election, is expected to assume the party presidency on the 16th, after the PSDB party convention, it is not in the Workers' Party's interest to have two adversaries continuously attacking the government with more than a year to go before the election. On the other hand, the PT also knows that Campos' political maneuvering is progressing at a much faster pace than that of the PSDB candidate. In this sense, the governor of Pernambuco has a certain advantage by using the current apparent uncertainty as a tool that works favorably for his national plans.