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BRASILIA / SAO PAULO (Reuters) – Brazilian right-wing presidential candidate Jair Bolsonaro has vowed to appoint non-partisan ministers, breaking with the tradition of building cabinets through coalitions, as part of the his attempt to fight corruption in the largest economy of Latin America.
Jair Bolsonaro, far-right MP and presidential candidate of the Social-Liberal Party (PSL), gesture after vote, in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, October 7, 2018. REUTERS / Pilar Olivares
Bolsonaro, a Conservative Congressman favored by the financial markets, did not get an absolute majority in Sunday's vote. He will face leftist Fernando Haddad, former mayor of Sao Paulo, in the second round of voting on October 28.
With a considerable lead in the first round – he won 46% of the vote against 29% for Haddad – and a wave of support raising his congressional allies, Bolsonaro said he had the capital to radically change the political process .
That would start with a more technocratic cabinet, potentially headed by another conservative Congressman, Onyx Lorenzoni, Bolsonaro said in a social media video with Lorenzoni at his side.
"Once we get there, let's build a team of ministers committed to Brazil's future, not political and partisan interests," said Bolsonaro. "And who knows, Onyx here as chief of staff in Brasilia, agree?"
The 63-year-old former army captain said he would like to appoint several generals to cabinet posts in order to depoliticize government positions of responsibility and to remove corruption schemes denounced by huge investigations. of corruption in recent years.
Without high-ranking ministerial positions tasked with securing the allied parties, the right-sided standoff might have a hard time maintaining a coalition government within a more fragmented Congress that will be divided into 30 parties next year. .
Bolsonaro is also seeking to entrust business leaders with the role of the government, a newspaper reported Tuesday, which could include inviting the head of global markets of Santander Brasil SA (SANB11.SA) to head the central bank if the current governor, Ilan Goldfajn, refuses to stay.
Roberto Campos Neto, who also heads the Santander Brasil negotiating desk, is one of the leaders envisaged to lead ministries and state-owned enterprises, Folha said, without specifying how she obtained the information.
The newspaper also announced that Alexandre Bettamio, managing director for Latin America at Bank of America Corp. (BAC.N), could take the lead of the public lender Banco do Brasil SA (BBAS3.SA).
The Bolsonaro campaign did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Neither Campos Neto nor Bettamio could be reached immediately for comment.
Haddad, in a radio interview, would not reveal who he was considering forming his cabinet when he won the vote in the second round, but he said the finance minister would "not be a banker".
Brazil emerged last year from its worst economic recession in decades, wiping out much of the prosperity generated in the previous decade, when the country was one of the world's worst economies. small, most emerging investors.
CONVERSION TO THE MARKET
Roberto de Oliveira Campos, a grandfather of the banker of Santander Brasil, was Minister of Planning in the early years of the Brazilian military government of 1964-1985, while he was pro-American. views and free market policies earned him the nickname "Bob Fields".
Bolsonaro, a prominent apologist for the dictatorship, defended in the past nationalistic and interventionist economic policies, with which the military government had unleashed an inflationary economic boom in the 1970s, after Campos left the government.
Since Bolsonaro launched his presidential campaign, he has declared his conversion to more market-friendly policies, advocated by his main economic adviser, the banker trained by the University of Chicago, Paulo Guedes.
In the past, Guedes told Reuters that Bolsonaro could invite Goldfajn, former head of the country's largest private sector bank, Itaú Unibanco Holding SA (ITUB4.SA), continue to run the central bank.
However, Goldfajn has close ties with the Brazilian Social Democracy Party (PSDB), formerly the largest right-wing party in Brazil, which has given way to the Social Liberal Party (PSL) in Bolsonaro, further to the right.
According to the Folha report, Bolsonaro has not yet launched an official invitation and will only do so after his election, but he plans to appoint leaders who have advised his campaign.
Folha quoted João Cox, telecom president TIM Participações SA (TIMP3.SA) Sergio Eraldo de Salles Pinto, leader of the investment company Bozano Investimentos, founded by Guedes; and Maria Silvia Bastos, former president of the BNDES public development bank and now director of Goldman Sachs in Brazil.
Leaders could not be contacted immediately to comment on their businesses.
Report by Bruno Federowski and Carolina Mandl; Ana Mano and Gram Slattery in Sao Paulo and Ricardo Brito in Brasilia; Written by Brad Haynes; Edited by Daniel Flynn and Paul Simao
