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EDITOR IN CHIEF- ABDULLAH BIN SALIM AL SHUEILI

Centrists struggle in polarised Brazil ahead of polls

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With leftist former president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva and firebrand right-wing former army officer Jair Bolsonaro leading the polls, there’s a gaping hole in Brazil’s centre ahead of presidential elections next year.


On Saturday, one of the country’s most established centrist forces, the Brazilian Social Democratic Party, or PSDB, will take a first step in trying to become the missing piece of that puzzle.


The PSDB convention will choose Sao Paulo state Governor Geraldo Alckmin as its leader, effectively launching him as the party’s candidate for the October 2018 polls. He’ll have a lot of catching up to do.


Despite having been convicted of corruption, Lula is far ahead with 36 per cent of the latest opinion poll. Bolsonaro, a congressional deputy with a love of pro-dictatorship outbursts, is firmly in second place with 18 per cent.


Faced by that hostile voter landscape, the PSDB’s other big step expected soon is to quit the coalition government headed by the centre-right PMDB and scandal-ridden President Michel Temer.


Temer, who took over after the impeachment of leftist president Dilma Rousseff in 2016, is mired in corruption charges and widely disliked for his attempt to push through austerity reforms.


But will breaking from the government and naming Alckmin persuade voters that the PSDB can bring a fresh start?


Betinho Gomes, a PSDB legislator, thinks so.


“The need for a centrist candidate who contrasts with the extreme left and right will promote alliances between several parties and Alckmin will be a key player,” he said.


But while Alckmin, 65, has the party machine behind him, he may be seen as more of the same at a time when Brazilians are thirsting for something different.


So far he is polling only at a modest seven per cent.


Crucially, Alckmin is alleged to have taken dirty money in the sprawling “Car Wash” scandal that has uncovered systemic embezzlement and bribery between politicians and some of Brazil’s biggest companies.


“He has a chance, but not much of one. No PSDB candidate is doing well in the polls and their party was hit hard by the corruption scandals,” said Fernando Lattman-Weltman, an analyst at the Instituto de Ciencias Sociales. — AFP


Damian Wroclavsky


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