Rousseff's New Cabinet Picks Tasked with Handling Coalition

Keeping a coherent governing coalition together in Brazil is not easy. The country boasts 27 officially inscribed political parties, making it difficult for any one to come out on top. With the resignation of her Chief-of-Staff Antonio Palocci over allegations of ethics violations, Dilma Rousseff’s job of keeping the 15 parties in her coalition on the same page just got harder. The task now falls to Gleisi Hoffmann and Ideli Salvatti, whose diplomatic skills have yet to be tested on such a scale.

A towering political figure, Palocci began his political career as a far leftist and helped found the governing Workers Party (PT) in 1980. As he ascended politically, however, he grew closer to Brazil’s private sector, first as treasury minister under the Luiz Inácio “Lula” da Silva administration and then as a congressman from 2006 to 2010. Palocci became one of the few major PT figures to weather the “mensalão” scandal of 2005, in which high-ranking PT officials were accused of paying monthly salaries to minor legislators to support the Lula administration’s congressional agenda. But Palocci resigned on June 7, after the A Folha de São Paulo revealed he had multiplied his assets 20 times and purchased luxury properties between 2006 and 2010 through his consultancy. 

Losing Palocci created a vacuum. According to The Economist, the president recruited Palocci into her administration “to act as the political enforcer to keep Rousseff’s unwieldy coalition in line.” He accomplished that goal partly by usurping the role of congressional liaison. So when Rousseff accepted his resignation, she also accepted that of Luiz Sérgio, head of Institutional Relations, the ministry charged with coordinating relations between the executive and Congress. He was widely considered ineffective at managing the differences among the governing coalition.

Neither of Rousseff’s two picks has Palocci’s clout—yet. Gleisi Hoffmann was five months into her first senate term when she got tapped for the chief-of-staff position. Unlike Palocci, who rose to prominence under Lula, Hoffmann owes her allegiance to Rousseff and does not have tight connections to Brazil’s business community, leading some to speculate that Rousseff’s administration will now tilt further left. Sérgio swapped places with Ideli Salvatti, the minister of Fishing and Marine Issues. She served as head of the Senate during the Lula administration, where her tough reputation earned her the nickname of “tractor.” It’s an image Salvatti recognizes, but says she will moderate. “I don’t know if I’ll be known as ‘little peace and love Ideli,’ but we’ll negotiate,” she said at a press conference after Rousseff announced her appointment. Her critics point out that she has no experience in the House, where the most contentious politics play out.

But those who matter most to Rousseff seem happy with her picks. The Brazilian Democratic Movement Party (PMDB), the largest party in the PT’s governing coalition, supported Rousseff through the crisis. José Sarney, the leader of the PMDB in the Senate, praised Salvatti in comments to the press and played down her reputation. “The choice of Ideli [Salvatti] as minister was excellent,” Sarney said. “Sometimes, she’s tough, but in politics many times it’s necessary to be tough. Being tough isn’t a defect, it’s a virtue.” Rousseff’s choices also raise the profile of women in her administration. With the appointments, women now make up three of the five so-called “palace ministers”—those who work closest to the president. The politics of the Palocci scandal did not seem to affect the public’s opinion of Rousseff’s leadership. A Datafolha poll released over the weekend found that 49 percent of Brazilians characterized Rousseff’s performance as “good” or “excellent”—up from 47 percent in March.

One measure of Rousseff’s success will be whether her new chief of staff and minister of Institutional Relations can smooth out internal rivalries within the PT, keep the PMDB happy with the coalition, and push the president’s agenda through Congress. Two upcoming issues promise to define the tenor of the new relationship. Rousseff opposes the current version of a reform to the Forest Code that would open up protected areas of the Amazon to cultivation by small farmers. The proposal has drawn criticism both nationally and internationally from scientists and environmentalists, but it sailed through the House on May 24. Rousseff has promised to veto the law if the Senate does not make major changes, including striking a provision extending amnesty to those who illegally cleared protected areas prior to 2008 and one granting authority to classify environmentally protected areas to state governments.

The budget represents a second contentious issue up for discussion. Rousseff froze some $31.6 billion of the federal budget upon assuming office, but with the pressure of inflation easing, the PMDB wants Rousseff to free up $6.3 billion to pay for unfunded legislation passed by Congress. Salvatti took office signaling a small step in that direction by immediately unfreezing $158 million.

Learn more:

• See the Supreme Electoral Court’s list of official Brazilian political parties. 
• Watch of video of Salvatti and Sérgio discussing their new roles before a press conference. 
• Read about the Datafolha poll measuring public opinion of the Rousseff administration and watch a video analyzing the results.