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in Brasilia (Brazil)
Joao Doria, governor of the state of Sao Paulo, was chosen on Saturday by his Brazilian Social Democracy Party (PSDB, center-right), one of the main political parties in Brazil, as a candidate for the presidential election of October 2022. Doria, 63, will be one of the candidates looking out for the “third way” niche between the outgoing far-right head of state, Jair Bolsonaro, and the very likely candidate of the Workers’ Party (PT, left), ex-president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva (2003-2010), clearly in the lead in the polls and who must announce in early 2022 whether he is running or not. Mr. Doria won 54% of the vote in his party, ahead of the governor of Rio Grande do Sul (south), Eduardo Leite (45%), and the former mayor of Manaus (north), Arthur Virgilio (1%) . “We will unite to build the best project for Brazil: a Brazil of prosperity, employment, equality, income distribution, entrepreneurship, respect for minorities and the environment,” said the governor of Sao Paulo after his victory. “Above all, a Brazil that respects democracy,” added Mr. Doria, ex-ally of Jair Bolsonaro and now fierce opponent. The PSDB was founded in the late 1980s and came to power with Fernando Henrique Cardoso (1995-2002). Subsequently, its candidates lost four consecutive elections in the second round against the PT, two against Lula and two against Dilma Rousseff (2011-2016). The main opposition force to the PT then collapsed, collecting only 4% in the 2018 presidential election, with Geraldo Alckmin as a candidate. In the second round, several figures of the PSDB had opted for Jair Bolsonaro to the detriment of the PT candidate, Fernando Haddad. Former judge Sergio Moro, icon of the vast anti-corruption operation Express Wash which imprisoned Lula and ex-justice minister of President Bolsonaro, could also claim to represent this third way after joining the centrist Podemos party in November . Other personalities have made a pre-candidacy, such as ex-minister Ciro Gomes (PDT, center-left) and Senator Alessandro Vieira (Citizenship, center). (Belga)
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