‘Presidential candidate’ seeks third way in Brazil

Bloomberg

With Brazil’s politics in meltdown, a softly-spoken, mixed-race woman from a remote Amazonian province believes she can lead Latin America’s largest economy after two failed presidential bids.
Marina Silva, a former environment minister born into a poor rubber-tapping family, argues that after years of high
unemployment, grinding recession and corruption scandals, Brazilians are hungry for change in the country’s politics. Currently running second in opinion polls, and unaffiliated with any of the major political parties, she believes she can build a ruling coalition based on her proposals rather than the traditional give and take of Brazilian politics.
That’s a bold proposition in a country where presidents
traditionally need to forge large alliances to get legislation through a highly-fragmented Congress. But with the legislature discredited in the eyes of the electorate, she believes positioning herself firmly in the center will lure voters on both the right and left.
“Historically, elections were won on labels: one says big state, the other says small state,” Silva said in a Bloomberg interview. “Enough labels. In our case, we’re saying we want a necessary state.”
On privatisation she said that she was not opposed in principle, but that selling off state assets had to come as a plan.