Under pressure to fulfill the promises of office during the presidential campaign and to build an allied base in Congress in his third term, President-elect Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (PT, progressive-globalist) is having difficulty fitting in his team of supporters, even as he increases the number of ministries and secretaries.
He has not yet managed to accommodate all his allies and is only expected to finish putting together the team less than a week before the government begins.
Lula da Silva’s personal staff and those linked to the central core of the PT have already filled the promised vacancies.
Lula da Silva waited for the approval of the Proposed Amendment to the Constitution (PEC) on Spending to start assembling the team that would form the government.
The PEC guaranteed an extra room in the spending cap of R$145 (US$27) billion next year.
To occupy the 37 ministries foreseen, 16 names are still missing, which Lula promised to announce soon after the Christmas holidays.
“We are trying to make a government that represents, as much as we can, the political forces that participated with us in the campaign,” justified the president-elect.
As reported in Revista Oeste, the future administration will promote a spending spree, even supporting ministries to accommodate Landless Workers’ Movement (MST) members and trade unionists, salary increases, and various welfare actions such as the Internet Grant.
Senator Simone Tebet (MDB-MS) and Federal Representative-elect Marina Silva (Rede-SP) are still waiting for their nominations.