Brasília, 9/4/2003 (Agência Brasil - ABr) - The government says it and allied political parties have a total of 320 votes which will be sufficient to pass the tax reform bill in a first vote in the Chamber of Deputies. The author (redactor) of the bill, deputy Virgilio Guimaraes (PT-MG), says that gives the government a margin of error [308 votes are needed to pass the bill because it involves constitutional changes].

As for the PMDB, which just formally became a government ally, its leader in the Chamber, deputy Eunicio Oliveira (CE), says that he intends to have 65 deputies present for the vote, and that he expects at least 55 of them to vote favorably. (AB)