Infighting muddies Brazil transition

摘要

Brazil’s Democratic Movement party (PMDB) has abandoned President Dilma Rousseff’s political coalition, shortening the odds that she will be ousted and raising investor expectations for an economic reform-oriented successor. But party infighting may hold up any transition. The political crisis-precipitated by a corruption scandal centered on statecontrolled oil firm Petrobras-continues to weigh on Brazil’s ailing economy and has pushed Petrobras to undertake aggressive cost-cutting measures. The PMBD’s formal withdrawal of support for Rousseff on 29 March came just weeks before a planned impeachment vote over manipulated public finances. The decision makes it more likely that Rousseff will be ousted before the end of her second four-year term in 2018. But some PMDB cabinet ministers are reluctant to give up their posts, suggesting that a transition will be neither swift nor smooth.