Good morning! Today, we talk about a right-wing crisis that could rattle Brazil’s leftist President Lula. Inflation reflections. And the first trials on the January 8 riots.
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Right-wing crisis threatens Lula
União Brasil, a major right-wing party that controls 59 of the 513 seats in the House, is in crisis. The feud, which stems from regional disputes, threatens to spill over into the federal government, as the party controls three cabinet seats.
State of play. União Brasil is the third-largest party in the House and the fifth-largest bench, when counting party blocs and federations. Disputes over its Rio de Janeiro branch have pitted party factions led by Tourism Minister Daniela Carneiro and chairman Luciano Bivar against one another.
- Ms. Carneiro, who is a congresswoman (on leave to take her cabinet post), and five other lawmakers have asked the electoral courts for permission to leave União Brasil but keep their seats. (Seats in the lower house are considered to belong to the party, not the politicians themselves.)
- To justify their request,...