Brazil former Finance Minister Henrique Meirelles to run for president

The Brazilian Democratic Movement—MDB in the original acronym, the political party of President Michel Temer—confirmed Thursday (Aug. 2) former Finance Minister Henrique Meirelles as presidential hopeful in the October elections.

The result was announced by party head Senator Romero Jucá, who reported that 85 percent of the 419 voters said yes to Meirelles. In the 2014 presidential race, Jucá went on to note, 54 percent of voters supported ex-President Dilma Rousseff’s ticket and then–running mate Michel Temer. In 2016, Rousseff was impeached by a group of Temer supporters, and Temer took office as president.

“The vote today shows how united the party is,” Jucá stressed. The MDB is yet to name a running mate.

Before the party leaders and main supporters, Temer urged members to work to take Meirelles’s name across the country convincingly. “The idea must be fostered wholeheartedly,” he argued, adding that the MDB led Brazil out of an “extraordinary crisis” and should bring the country back on track.

After thanking his party, Meirelles argued for a pact for trust and governability, and said he has results to back him, not just as former finance minister, but also as head of the country’s Central Bank, a position he served in for eight years under former President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva.

Henrique Meirelles also outlined his plan as presidential hopeful and highlighted investments in infrastructure among his priorities to shorten distances across the country, in addition to health care and public security.

The newly nominated candidate went on to stress the role of the Bolsa Família conditional cash transfer program, aimed at the poorer portions of the population. To generate employment, Meirelles said he intends to restore the country’s economic policy, attract investment, and carry out the reforms the country needs. “My goal is to make the country grow four percent a year.”