PSDB party not withdrawing government support

The interim national president of PSDB party, Senator Tasso Jereissati, said on Monday (June 13) his party was staying in the coalition of President Michel Temer, but would weigh up the political situation each day.

“New facts keep coming up every day and we'll monitor,” the senator said at the end of a six-hour meeting of the party's national executive committee.

According to Jereissati, a majority within his party chose not to break ranks with the governing coalition at this time because it wanted to ensure support for the government's austerity reforms in Congress, including an overhaul of the pension system. The PSDB is the largest single party in the governing coalition apart from the ruling PMDB itself.

Electoral Court

Talking about the outcome of a recent Electoral Court trial on the finance of Dilma Rousseff and Michel Temer's 2014 re-election campaign, Jereissati said he thought the PSDB should appeal the acquittal. (The court dispute was filed by the PSDB, which is the party of the runner-up in the 2014 election.) However, he said, the PSDB lawyers would rather wait until the acquital ruling is officially published, then leave the matter for the party committee to decide. “We'll stick with Temer's coalition, but we're not leaving our views aside. And I'm convinced there was corruption in the 2014 election.”

Jereissati admitted his stance might seem incongruous, but said he preferred to follow his convictions. “There is certainly some incongruity to this, but we've been bound by history. This is not my government, nor the government of my dreams. I didn't vote for either him [Temer] or her [Rousseff]. We're in this together for the sake of stability. I would feel more comfortable with someone from the PSDB [in the presidency].”

About the possibility of the Prosecutor-General's Office indicting Temer on the charges against him, Jereissati said the PSDB preferred to leave the party members in the Chamber of Deputies free to use their own judgment (a formal investigation of an incumbent president is subject to the approval of the lower house of Congress). “There's no closing ranks on that. There are mixed views within the party, so it's up to each one's own personal judgment rather than the party's decision. If something really big comes up, we may change our minds and call a new meeting to discuss it again,” he said.

Party seats

The PSDB party has five of its members in Michel Temer's cabinet. It is the fourth-largest bench in the lower house (46 deputies), and the third-largest in Senate (11 senators) next to the ruling PMDB and the PT. The national president of the PSDB, Senator Aécio Neves, was suspended by Supreme Court Justice Edson Fachin, the judge overseeing the Car Wash probe in the Supreme Court, following allegations that he had received kickbacks.

Translated by Mayra Borges