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Brazil's largest party to leave Rousseff government, Valor says
Brazil's President Dilma Rousseff reacts during a conference with representatives from workers' unions and social movements, in Brasilia, August 13, 2015. PHOTO BY REUTERS/Ueslei Marcelino
21/08/2015
SAO PAULO/BRASILIA (Reuters) - The Brazilian Democratic Movement Party, the nation's largest, is preparing to leave President Dilma Rousseff's administration after disagreements over handling an ongoing political crisis, Valor Econômico newspaper said on Friday.
The newspaper, which did not say how it obtained the information, said the party known as PMDB would take a first step in that direction when Vice President Michel Temer surrenders his tasks as Rousseff's main political liaison with Congress by the end of August.
A formal split with Rousseff should take place on Nov. 15, when the PMDB hosts its national congress, Valor said. Party leaders will present a program to "recover the trust of as well as to give more predictability and legal certainty to the nation's business community," the paper added.
The media offices of the presidential palace and the PMDB did not have immediate comments on the report, while a press representative for Temer could not be reached for comment.
According to Valor, an exit from the Rousseff administration would allow the PMDB to field candidates for next year's municipal elections with relative ease and freedom from the alliance with Rousseff's ruling Workers' Party.
Speculation over Temer's possible departure as Rousseff's main political coordinator mounted this week.
An aide to the PMDB leadership, who spoke to Reuters on the condition of anonymity, said the move was under discussion within the party, as it prepares to field its own presidential candidate in 2018, but that it did not mean the PMDB would leave the government now. That, he said, would entail Temer's resignation as vice president.
The decision comes as opinion polls show two of every three Brazilians want to see Rousseff impeached after Latin America's largest economy contracted and a massive corruption scandal erupted at several state-controlled companies during her presidency.
In recent months, Temer spearheaded government efforts to lead Brazil out of political crisis by holding the fort for Rousseff with the business community and among ruling coalition and opposition politicians.
(Reporting by Guillermo Parra-Bernal and Anthony Boadle; Additional reporting by Maria Carolina Marcello in Brasilia; Editing by Lisa Von Ahn)
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