AlHijjah 18, 1436, October 02, 2015, SPA -- Brazil's President Dilma Rousseff shrank her cabinet and reshuffled ministers on Friday to bolster alliances within her coalition government, Reuters reported. Rousseff named former defense minister Jacques Wagner, a political heavyweight, as her chief of staff and put one additional cabinet post, the health ministry, under control of the PMDB, a center-right party that is her main coalition ally and now controls 7 of the government's 31 ministries. In a Friday morning speech in Brasilia, Rousseff said she was strengthening her coalition's ties to lawmakers needed to help rebalance public finances. "My government is seeking support in Congress," she said. "We need political stability for Brazil to grow." She named former sports minister Aldo Rebelo, a longtime ally of the ruling Workers' Party, as the new defense chief. In a largely symbolic cost-saving move, Rousseff eliminated eight of a previous 39 ministries by cutting lesser portfolios and merging others, such as labor and social security, and human rights with racial equality and women's affairs.
