Brazil coalition govt divided over Congress vote

Brasilia, Feb1: A fierce dispute over who will lead Brazil's Congress has divided President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva's governing coalition and could hurt his efforts to form a new cabinet.

Lula, who began a second term January 1, has tried to patch together a broad-based coalition of up to 10 parties from far left to center-right.

But a gloves-off battle between two allied candidates has soured relations within the governing coalition. The vote to choose a new leader takes place tomorrow.

''Lula is not off to a good start in his second term,'' said Ricardo Ribeiro, a political consultant in Sao Paulo. ''It looks like he's not in control of his coalition or his party.'' Lula needs the head of the lower house of Congress, the third-ranking politician in Brazil, to rally support for his economic stimulus package.

Economists say Brazil -- Latin America's largest economy -- also needs to curtail costly social security and labor costs to help accelerate only modest economic growth and catch up to other leading emerging markets such as India and China.

Lula had initially backed the incumbent Aldo Rebelo of the Communist Party and asked his own ruling Workers' Party, or PT, to step aside.

The former union leader began distancing himself from the PT he founded 27 years ago after it was involved in a series of corruption and campaign scandals over the past two years.

But instead of backing going along with Lula, the PT backed rival candidate Arlindo Chinaglia to head the Chamber of Deputies.

Reflecting the level of animosity, Rebelo said on Monday it would be bad for Brazil's democracy to have a president and head of the Chamber of Deputies from the same party. The opposition Brazilian Social Democracy Party is running a third candidate.

Critics say some lawmakers have been offered pork barrel spending in their constituencies in exchange for supporting Chinaglia. The government has denied the charges.

But Dep. Fernando Gabeira of the Green Party says he is concerned the PT could resort to underhanded tactics. In 2005 the party admitted to having illegally financed campaigns of some lawmakers.

''I hear dubious offers are being made in Congress, I hope they are not playing with fire again,'' Gabeira.

Some of Lula's closest allies are concerned about the growing animosity within the government camp.

''I'm worried. This (rift) could be irreversible,'' said Ciro Gomes, a congressman and close friend of Lula's.

The power struggle could make it more difficult for Lula to accommodate allies in his cabinet. The centrist Brazilian Democratic Movement Party, or PMDB, the largest in Congress, has demanded several portfolios in exchange for supporting Lula.

But this week the PT said it wanted more not fewer seats in Lula's cabinet.

''At stake is the quality of the Lula government, which depends on a solid political foundation we are trying to build,'' Gomes said.

Reuters