Iolando Lourenço and Marcos Chagas
Reporters Agência Brasil

Brasília - Deputy Aldo Rebelo (PCdoB-SP) will be the candidate of three parties (PT, PSB and PCdoB) allied with the government in the election for president of the Chamber of Deputies. Rebelo, a former minister of Political Coordination, got the nod after deputies Arlindo Chinaglia (PT-SP) and Beto Albuquerque (PSB-RS), leaders of their respective parties in the lower house, threw their support to him. The three parties behind Rebelo have a total of 118 members. As there are 513 deputies in the Chamber of Deputies, a total of 257 votes are needed to win the election, which is scheduled to take place next Wednesday, September 28.

Besides Rebelo, the following are still candidates for the presidency of the Chamber of Deputies: Michel Temer (PMDB-SP), Luiz Antônio Fleury (PTB-SP), João Caldas (PL-AL) and Francisco Dornelles (PP-RJ). Also in the running are the vice president of the Chamber, José Thomaz Nonô (PFL-AL) and Jutahy Magalhães (PSDB-BA). However, it is expected that there will be a lot of jockeying before next Wednesday's election. For example, the leader of the PSDB, Alberto Goldman (SP), says that his party will probably join the PFL in backing a single candidate. And spokesmen for another opposition block (PDT, PV, PPS and Prona) say they also intend to join forces and field a single candidate.

Translator: Allen Bennett