Cid Gomes' Attack Weakens Haddad's Front Against Bolsonaro

After having trouble joining forces with other political parties, candidate shifts focus in lower-income voters, evangelicals and intellectuals

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Marina Dias
Brasília

After failing to gather multi-party support for Fernando Haddad, PT's campaign team is making adjustments to gain more alliances. The order now is to aim at low-income voters and groups of evangelicals, jurists, artists, and intellectuals.

The move reflects the concern in containing Jair Bolsonaro's growth - according to a recent poll; the distance between the two candidates is 18 percentage points. A few days ago, a harsh statement from Cid Gomes (PDT), Ciro Gomes' brother, against PT weakened the plan of an alliance among more progressive parties to oppose Bolsonaro.

Fernando Haddad, presidential candidate of Brazil's leftist Workers' Party (PT), attends a news conference in Sao Paulo, Brazil October 16, 2018 - REUTERS

Gomes went as far as saying that PT deserved to lose the election. "If they don't own up to their mistakes they will lose the election. And they will lose it badly," said the former governor of Ceará, demanding a mea culpa from the party.

Jair Bolsonaro's team wasted no time in exploring the controversy and showed Gomes' speech in PSL's daily political ads.

Haddad expected to form alliances with prominent politicians, like the former candidates Ciro Gomes and Marina Silva (Rede). He tried to gain support from former Brazil president Fernando Henrique Cardoso (PSDB) and retired Supreme Court Justice Joaquim Barbosa, but talks didn't go forward.

Translated by NATASHA MADOV

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