Gabriela Guerreiro and Iolando Lourenço
Reporters Agência Brasil

Brasília – A new group of congressmen from the Workers' Party (Partido dos Trabalhadores) (PT) who are calling themselves the "parliamentary block of the democratic left" (bloco parlamentar da esquerda democrática) had a meeting on Wednesday with the government's Chief Prosecutor (procurador-geral da República), Antonio Fernando Souza. They demanded a complete investigation into charges that votes were bought in Congress and that election campaigns were financed by undeclared funds.

The group has 19 federal deputies and 23 state deputies and was actually formed in March to protest the government's economic policies.

According to deputy Maninha (PT-DF), the group is not thinking about leaving the PT and founding another party yet. That decision will be made after PT internal elections scheduled for November. "We are going to participate in the PT election. If we win, that is one thing. If we lose, we may leave the party," she declared. According to Maninha, the group has a longstanding dispute with the Campo Majoritário, which has dominated the PT since the early 1990s, that runs deeper than the recent scandal of the "mensalão." "We disagree with their economic policy and methods. This new crisis just aggravated the situation," concluded Maninha.

Deputy Ivan Valente (PT-SP) says the members of the group are ready to resign their positions of leadership in the Chamber of Deputies. Today the group will hold a political rally in São Paulo to protest the government's economic policy and corruption, and in favor of the historical positions of the PT and socialism.

Translator: Allen Bennett