Departure of a PSDB Cabinet Member Accelerates Ministerial Reform

11/14/2017 - 10h40

The resignation of Bruno Araújo, the now-former head of the Ministry of Cities, and also a member of the PSDB (Brazilian Social Democracy Party), has initiated the party's departure from the Temer administration and will most likely speed up the replacement process of cabinet members.

The president has already begun negotiations with allies in order to fill in any vacancies left in top-tier positions. He is planning on defining all changes by next week.

To that effect, Mr. Temer met with senator Ciro Nogueira, the president of the Progressive Party (PP). The party is coveting the Ministry of Cities, which not only has a sizeable budget, but is also very active in several municipalities across the country.

	Pedro Ladeira/Folhapress
	Bruno Araújo, head of the Ministry of Cities

Among the candidates for the vacancy left by Mr. Araújo are Gilberto Occhi, the president of federal bank Caixa, and Aguinaldo Ribeiro, the majority leader in the Chamber of Deputies.

There are another three PSDB cabinet members in the Temer administration. They are: Antonio Imbassahy (Secretary of Government), Aloysio Nunes (Minister of Foreign Affairs) and Luislinda Valois (Minister of Human Rights).

Such positions are coveted by other parties that are in the governing coalition and are presenting these administrative modifications as a precondition to passing bills in Congress, such as the pension reform bill.

Translated by THOMAS MATHEWSON

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