RIO DE JANEIRO, Nov. 21 (Xinhua) -- Brazilian President Michel Temer Tuesday announced the appointment of Federal Representative Alexandre Baldy as the country's new minister of cities.
According to the government, the inauguration ceremony of the new minister will be held on Wednesday afternoon.
Baldy is currently serving as federal representative of the state of Goias, midwestern Brazil. He just left the Podemos party and is not affiliated to any other party at the moment.
Baldy will replace Bruno Araujo who resigned last week. Araujo is affiliated to the Brazilians Social Democracy Party (PSDB), which was originally the largest allied party in President Temer's coalition.
However, the alliance between PSDB and President Temer's own Brazilian Democratic Movement Party has since gone sour. The PSDB is divided in its support to the Temer administration, with several prominent leaders having publicly declared that PSDB members in the administration had to resign.
In his resignation letter, Araujo said there was no longer support inside his party to his permanence in the ministry.
Baldy is the first name that was announced to the cabinet. President Temer will carry out a cabinet reform and is expected to replace roughly half of the ministers.
Some ministers will choose to leave their positions in order to run for the 2018 elections, in which Brazilians will elect a new President, state governors, federal and state representatives and senators.
