Brasília, June 7, 2004 (Agência Brasil) - "The Socialism and Liberty Party (PSoL) is born with the mission of providing a haven to all leftists who lack party backing and redeeming the chief platforms of the PT before it took over the government." These were the words of Senator Heloisa Helena (AL), elected by the PT and presently without any party affiliation, on the second day of the meeting that gathered Brazilian delegations and foreign observers in Brasília to decide on the creation of a new political party.

She said that around 900 people took part in the meeting, Saturday (5) and Sunday (6), to determine the creation of the new party and decide its name. "All of them devoted to discussing social and democratic directions, in a clear demonstration of opposition to neoliberalism." In the meeting hall various banners called for a break with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and attacked the Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA).

The Senator said that she and the three ex-PT Federal Deputies - Luciana Genro (RS), João Fontes (SE), and João Batista Babá (PA) - who join her in forming the front line of the PSoL, have discovered solidary in their travels around the country. "We have been greeted with great receptivity, and we feel that the democratic spirit is deeply rooted in our nation," she stated.

Also excited about the meeting, Luciana Genro emphasized that "now is the moment to foster all leftist tendencies that fight for democratic ideals, not to divide them." The new party, in her view, is here to reestablish dialogue and occupy the "political void," without constituting a PT-2.

In view of the "success" of the encounter, in the opinion of Deputy João Fontes, the new party will register its name today with a notary public and have it published in the federal government's official daily; only then will it request provisional registration in the Electoral Court system.

Once this is done, the organizers will have until September 30, 2005, to obtain the 438 thousand signatures that are necessary to make the party official, so it can compete in the 2006 elections. Fontes thinks that it will be easy to attain this number by taking advantage of the natural mobilization in this year's municipal elections.

After the definition of the party's name, a long line formed to sign a petition that was part of a public demonstration at the end of the day in support of peaceful solutions for the political crises in Haiti, Venezuela, and Iraq.

Reporter: Stênio Ribeiro
Translator: David Silberstein