The political tripartite alliance in Belo Horizonte explodes.
In 2008, the capital of Minas Gerais was the stage for an unprecedented experiment: an agreement between the PT and PSDB parties regarding the candidacy of Marcio Lacerda (center), from the PSB. Now, the vice-mayor Roberto Carvalho wants to be a candidate and rejects an alliance with Acio.
Rodolfo Borges_247 – The veiled alliance (or perhaps a truce?) between the PT and PSDB in Belo Horizonte has finally collapsed. The last meeting of the PT's municipal directorate in the Minas Gerais capital dealt the final blow to the agreement that elected and harmoniously sustained the government of Márcio Lacerda (PSB), orchestrated by Senator Aécio Neves (PSDB), the national president of the PSB and governor of Pernambuco, Eduardo Campos, and the Minister of Development, Fernando Pimentel. Jealous of the extensive presence of PSDB members in Lacerda's government, the PT members decided that the party will not form any coalition – formal or informal – with the PSDB, PPS, and DEM in the next elections. As a result of this decision, Lacerda invited the PSDB to form an alliance in 2012.
The PT's decision mirrors the party's national decision, but adds a prohibition on the "informal" coalition that has kept the PSDB in the government structure until now. In the last elections, the PSDB did not participate in the PSB coalition in the Minas Gerais capital, but informally supported the ticket. Everything would be fine if the PSDB hadn't occupied 60% of the positions in the City Hall and made the PT members realize the trap they fell into after securing three consecutive terms in the Belo Horizonte city hall since 1993, with Patrus Ananias, Célio de Castro, and the current Minister of Development, Fernando Pimentel.
The president of the PT (Workers' Party) in the capital of Minas Gerais – and current vice-mayor of Belo Horizonte – Roberto Carvalho, has already stated that the party's priority in BH is to "rebuild its unity" and that this decision is based on the party's national resolution. The party is reportedly even approaching the PMDB (Brazilian Democratic Movement Party) in the capital, with a view to forming an alternative ticket to Márcio Lacerda. A ticket, by all indications, doomed to defeat, since this week the PSB (Brazilian Socialist Party) of Belo Horizonte formalized an agreement with the PCdoB (Communist Party of Brazil), leading federal deputy Jô Moraes to withdraw her candidacy in favor of Lacerda and increasing support for his reelection.
Márcio Lacerda still believes in the possibility of an agreement between the two parties and relies on the statement by the national president of the PT, Rui Falcão, that cases like the one in Belo Horizonte will be discussed separately. Perhaps that is why the PSB of Belo Horizonte felt comfortable inviting the PSDB this week to be part of Lacerda's ticket for the 2012 elections. Those who do not seem at all comfortable with the situation are the local PT members, whose militants are already joining the chorus in favor of the strike by state school teachers and the protests by workers renovating the Mineirão stadium for the 2014 World Cup.