Alckmin views the merger between PSB and PPS favorably.
For the governor of São Paulo, Geraldo Alckmin (PSDB), the merger between the PSB and the PPS is a "praiseworthy" measure to reduce the number of political parties in the country; moreover, the PSDB is already considering the possibility that a potential presidential candidacy of Alckmin in the 2018 elections could benefit from the union of the two parties.
247 - For the governor of São Paulo, Geraldo Alckmin (PSDB), the merger between the PSB and the PPS is a "praiseworthy" measure to reduce the number of political parties in the country. Moreover, the PSDB is already considering the possibility that a potential presidential candidacy of Alckmin in the 2018 elections could benefit from the union of the two parties.
Part of the PSDB's optimism stems from the fact that the main driving force behind the merger is Alckmin's vice-governor, Márcio França, who is the president of the PSB in São Paulo. From this perspective, França could be a candidate for governor of São Paulo when Alckmin launches his candidacy for President of the Republic.
Despite avoiding commenting on 2018, Alkmin said that "it's unreasonable to have 32 parties, plus three more to be registered now, plus 26 in line; that's ungovernability, that doesn't exist anywhere else in the world. So this merger of the PSB with the PPS is doubly commendable, because there are fewer parties, more structured parties, and more programmatic ones. They are two parties that are not the same, but that have a very similar program, so I think it's good for democracy," he assessed.