Lula wants Marcio Pochmann as a candidate in Campinas.
The president of Ipea and professor at Unicamp would be presented as an anti-corruption figure.
With proposals to renew the PT (Workers' Party) in São Paulo and pressure to avoid primaries in strategic cities, former president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva began shaping the party for the 2012 municipal elections. After leading the campaign for the candidacy of Minister Fernando Haddad (Education) in the capital, Lula intends to place economist Marcio Pochmann, president of the Institute for Applied Economic Research (Ipea), in Campinas.
New politicians in municipal races are replacing candidates defeated in previous elections, in a movement to train new leaders. In Campinas, the state's third-largest city, Pochmann would help the local PT overcome a delicate moment.
The former president fears that allegations of fraud in the administration of the ousted mayor Dr. Hélio (PDT) and the current mayor Demétrio Vilagra (PT) will frustrate the party's electoral ambitions in the city. Pochmann, a technician at Ipea and professor at Unicamp, would be presented as an "anti-corruption" candidate. "We don't want to discuss names yet, but there is a great deal of sympathy for Pochmann," said a party leader, who acknowledged Lula's influence in the nomination.
The former president's appreciation for unprecedented candidates reflects the renewal strategy advocated by him and former Chief of Staff José Dirceu. This thinking guided Lula's lobbying for Minister Fernando Haddad in the São Paulo mayoral race, in a contest with Senator Marta Suplicy, who lost the last municipal election to Gilberto Kassab (now with the PSD party).
Newcomers are being considered in two other cities. In Mogi das Cruzes, the Workers' Party candidate is expected to be Marco Soares, president of the local OAB (Brazilian Bar Association). In Ribeirão Preto, the party intends to launch retired judge João Agnaldo Donizeti Gandini, who presided over the trial accusing former minister Antonio Palocci of bid-rigging when Palocci was mayor of the city.
Lula also decided to replace a defeated candidate with a new name in Santo André. Deputy Vanderlei Siraque intended to run for mayor again, but was pressured to make way for former union leader Carlos Grana, a friend of Lula and a frequent visitor to the Alvorada Palace during the previous administration.