Parties whose candidates lose presidential elections spend the early months of the victor's term of office trying to work out how to be opposition, a task made more difficult if part of the legislature was renewed at the same time, and they lost ground to the new president's supporters there too.
This is the situation of the social democrat PSDB and conservative PFL, whose discomfort was further compounded by the fact that they have not really been in opposition since the end of military rule in 1985.
Learning curve
The learning curve has not been without its exaggerated gestures, such as when, at the beginning of August, the PFL sought to block voting on the government's pension reform bill with an injunction from the federal supreme court. The request was rejected, but had it been successful would have represented an inappropriate intervention by one branch of government into the affairs of another.
The PFL ultimately played quite a different role. When the government was trying to push through the introduction of taxation for retired civil servants, it was forced to concede other aspects of the bill to win approval, and it was the 64 votes from PFL and PSDB legislators, both of whom sit on the opposition benches, that got the bill passed.
An opposition with clout
The pension vote revealed quite how delicate the governing coalition really is, a situation from which the opposition can draw strength. The left wing of the PT rebelled against the reform, with renegade senator Heloísa Helena (PT, Alagoas) climbing on the back of a truck parked outside by striking civil servants to berate the government as `pusillanimous and cowardly'.
While petistas were abstaining or voting against on ideological grounds, another swathe of coalition legislators was threatening to go against the government on more cynical ones of advancement for their own parties. They simply want more government jobs for their group, arguing that they have been invited to share the burden of government without receiving any of the benefits (or, dare we say it, spoils).
Lula hands on
Lula wisely adopted a hands-on approach to the problem of getting the reform bill approved, even though it meant postponing his evangelising work on behalf of developing world unity for the Doha Round of WTO trade liberalisation talks.
End of preview - This article contains approximately 510 words.
Subscribers: Log in now to read the full article
Not a Subscriber?
Choose from one of the following options
