Lula secures PT's exit from Cabral's administration.
The state directory intended to launch Senator Lindbergh Farias' candidacy for governor of Rio this Saturday, against Vice-Governor Fernando Pezão (PMDB); the former president wants to first take the matter to President Dilma Rousseff and Vice-President Michel Temer (PMDB); the extension benefits Sérgio Cabral, who seeks to boost his popularity.
247 - The break between Senator Lindbergh Farias's PT party and Sérgio Cabral's PMDB party has been postponed again. Due to intervention by former president Lula, the PT in Rio de Janeiro will have to wait for the official launch of the senator's candidacy for governor of the state, against Vice-Governor Luiz Fernando Pezão (PMDB), which was supposed to be formalized this Saturday.
Members of the Workers' Party (PT) control two secretariats in the state administration, with Carlos Minc in charge of the Environment, and Zaqueu Teixeira in charge of Social Assistance and Human Rights.
Lula claimed he will meet this Friday, the 29th, with President Dilma Rousseff and the PMDB leadership to discuss the alliance between the two parties in the states. Cabral is pressuring the PT to support his candidate.
Lindbergh came in third place in an Ibope poll released this week, with 11% of voting intentions. Pezão is in sixth place, with 4%.
The extension of the alliance gives Cabral more time to try to reverse his declining popularity. The latest Ibope poll showed him with only 18% good or excellent ratings, 34% approval, and 58% disapproval.