Ricardo Carandina
Reporter - TV Nacional

Brasília - The PMDB, the political party with the largest number of both deputies and senators in the Congress at the moment, has officially decided that it will not have a candidate for the presidency in the country's October general elections. And as the party will not field a presidential candidate, the party leaders also decided it will not be necessary to have a national convention (which was originally scheduled for the end of this month).

Does this mean that the country's biggest political party will sit out the election campaign? Not at all. Because of the so-called "verticalization law" the PMDB will gain advantages in state elections by passing on a presidential candidate. The reason is that under the rules of "verticalization" a party must have the same alliances in state races that it has in the presidential race; without a presidential candidate the PMDB is free to make any alliances it wishes at the state and local levels.

According to deputy Eunicio Oliveira, from Ceará, a member of the PMDB board of directors, "Because of verticalization we cannot have a presidential candidate. So we decided not to have one and permit free negotiations at the state level."

Translation: Allen Bennett