Brazil's PSD officially backs Caiado-Kassab ticket, revealing limits of its 'new path'

Brazil's Social Democratic Party (PSD) is set to officially confirm Ronaldo Caiado as its presidential candidate, with Gilberto Kassab as his vice-presidential pick, at its national convention on Sunday.

The Caiado-Kassab ticket positions itself as a third way in Brazil's highly polarized political landscape, seeking to offer an alternative to the anticipated contest between Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva and Jair Bolsonaro. However, the party's decision to run a "pure slate", meaning both candidates are from the PSD, highlights the limitations of this attempt to forge a new path to the presidential palace.

Despite Kassab's extensive experience as a political articulator, his inclusion does not appear to inject significant new energy into the alliance or alter the entrenched political dynamics. Instead, it suggests that Caiado, facing a narrow field of potential allies, opted for the most viable option within his party. Speculation about a potential alliance between Caiado and Romeu Zema, the former governor of Minas Gerais, ultimately failed to materialize, as neither candidate was willing to cede the top spot on the ticket.

Sources indicate that the PSD leadership considered Caiado stepping down from the presidential candidacy unthinkable, while Zema also ruled out any composition where he was not the presidential nominee. The PSD had hoped that Caiado's national profile would grow, boosting his poll numbers, but this has not yet occurred, with him consistently polling around 3% and in fourth place.

The party's strategic decision for a pure slate, announced by National Political Council President Heráclito Fortes, is partly explained by the difficulty in forming state-level alliances. In São Paulo, the PSD supports Governor Tarcísio de Freitas, who is aligned with Bolsonaro. In Minas Gerais, Governor Mateus Simões supports Zema. In Rio de Janeiro, Mayor Eduardo Paes is aligned with Lula, and in Pernambuco, Governor Raquel Lyra has been granted freedom to support any candidate. This complex web of state-level political alignments likely influenced the PSD's choice to consolidate internally by selecting Kassab, potentially the only way for the party to achieve internal unity and engagement.

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The slate is launched and it is a decision of the PSD. I received the party's guidance by announcement. This is the best thing we could have done. We put the ball in play.