PSB vice-presidential candidate Amaral resigns from his positions.

PE247 – The national vice-president of the PSB, Roberto Amaral, requested this week (7) the resignation of the positions he held on the boards of the National Bank for Economic and Social Development (BNDES) and Itaipu Binacional. The leader himself gave the information this Saturday (7), according to O Globo. The resignation request occurs at the same time that the socialist party still holds state positions in the Federal Government, despite having left on September 18 the command of the Ministry of National Integration, which was headed by Fernando Bezerra Coelho (PE), and the Special Secretariat of Ports (Leônidas Cristino, from Ceará).

Also resigning earlier this month was the superintendent of the Superintendency for the Development of the Central-West Region (Sudeco), Marcelo Dourado; however, he remains in his position until his replacement is appointed to oversee the transition. Another position still held by a member of the PSB party is the Superintendency for the Development of the Northeast Region (Sudene), with Luiz Gonzaga Paes Landim, appointed by the governor of Piauí, Wilson Martins (PSB-PI). In this case, the director is awaiting the restructuring of the Ministry of National Integration, which is now headed by Francisco Teixeira, the ministry to which Sudene is subordinate.

The resignations were a consequence of the PT's discomfort with the political and business dealings of the governor of Pernambuco, Eduardo Campos (PSB), aimed at the Palácio do Planalto in 2014. Although he did not publicly announce his candidacy, the governor began to criticize the Federal Government, both in speeches and in party broadcasts.

Even after relinquishing its positions in the Ministry of National Integration and the Secretariat of Ports, the PSB prefers not to publicly oppose President Dilma Rousseff's (PT) government and instead presents itself as an independent party. As a historical ally of the PT, the socialist party does not declare itself in opposition to the PT administration because, considering the current political climate, this could theoretically cause discomfort among voters who support the Dilma government, of which the PSB was once a part, and exacerbate the feeling of "betrayal" that many voters still hold against the PSB.

This sentiment has been present since the 2012 municipal elections, when the PSB, despite being allied with the Workers' Party, launched its own candidates in important cities such as Belo Horizonte (MG), Recife (PE), Fortaleza (CE), and Cuiabá (MT). To avoid being seen as a party in the same political camp as the PSDB, whose pre-candidate is Senator Aécio Neves (MG), who is part of the main opposition party to the PT, the PSB prefers to label Campos' candidacy as an alternative project.