From: AP
BRASILIA, Brazil — A former Brazilian environment minister who is a famed campaigner to protect the Amazon rainforest from development says she is leaving the governing Workers Party and may run for president next year.
The 51-year-old Marina Silva says she will likely join the Green Party, which recently invited her to be its presidential candidate to push the issue of sustainable development.
Silva's switch is a setback for President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva as he tries to boost the Workers Party for the 2010 elections in South America's biggest country. He is barred from seeking a third consecutive term and is backing chief of staff Dilma Rousseff for the party's presidential nomination.