Lula names cabinet, but loses majority in congress

12/30/2002 - Source: Latin American Newsletters

President-elect Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva has named his entire cabinet. However, no members of the PMDB have been made ministers, making it hard for Lula's government to secure a majority in congress.

President-elect Lula delayed announcing his ministerial team until the last minute, in the hope that he could reach an agreement the centrist PMDB, the largest party in the senate and the third-largest in the lower house. The negotiations collapsed because the PMDB was split between pro- and anti-Lula factions.

Without the PMDB, Lula's alliance of leftwing parties does not command a majority in either house and the government will be forced to construct temporary alliances with opposition parties on each vote. The PT and its allies (PL, PPS, PDT, PSB, PTB, PCdoB) are 29 short of a majority in the 513-seat chamber of deputies and 13 short in the 81-seat senate.

THE CABINET. The cabinet is dominated by Lula's workers party (PT), although some of the key posts have gone to business leaders, giving the team a whiff of corporatism. Petista António Palocci had already been announced as finance minister and notable among the new appointees was Guido Mantega as planning minister. Both men are longstanding PT members, but are known as pragmatists and in the run-up to the elections impressed investors with their emphasis on prudent fiscal and monetary policies. The incoming trade and industry minister Luiz Fernando Furlan is the chairman of the giant Brazilian food exporting company, Sadia, and the new agriculture minister, Roberto Rodrigues is head of Brazil's agribusiness federation.

In the absence of the PMDB, almost all the second-rank ministerial posts, including labour, mines and energy, health, education and social security have been given to petistas. The only exceptions are transport which has gone to Partido Liberal's Anderson Adauto and communications which has been given to the PDT's Miro Teixeira.

Lula has ensured that all his leftwing allies have a seat at the cabinet table, although some have been given fairly low-ranking briefs, such as tourism and sport. Former presidential candidate Ciro Gomes, of the populist PPS, has been appointed minister of national integration.