Labor Party Leaves Coalition

Brazil’s Labor Party plans to leave the ruling coalition amid allegations by Roberto Jefferson, the party’s president, that President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva’s Workers’ Party bribed lawmakers. Labor Party members will be free to vote for or against legislation proposed by Lula’s ruling coalition, a party spokesman said. The withdrawal of the Labor Party, with its 48 seats, leaves Lula with a much narrower majority in Brazil’s lower house. Lula’s coalition is in the minority in the Senate.