(Bloomberg) -- Brazil’s Governor Eduardo Leite resigned his mandate to possibly run in the October presidential election, particularly if his party’s candidate fail to gain traction in polls. 

Leite, the 37-year-old head of the conservative state of Rio Grande do Sul, was defeated in the November primaries of his Brazilian Social Democracy Party by Sao Paulo Governor Joao Doria, 63. Despite having achieved national prominence by spearheading a successful campaign to bring Covid-19 vaccines into Brazil, Doria has performed poorly in recent opinion polls, where he comes in a distant fifth position.

“I’m presenting myself as an alternative to make possible a centrist understanding,” Leite told reporters on Monday, referring to an elusive attempt to unify centrist parties around a single candidate that would break the polarization between leftist former President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva and the right-wing incumbent, Jair Bolsonaro. “The world is going through a generational change in politics, and I don’t give up on dreaming.”

With the exception of those seeking a second term, all public officials willing to run in this year’s election must resign before April 2, according to Brazil’s electoral law. That means several members of Bolsonaro’s cabinet will also step down this week, including Agriculture Minister Tereza Cristina and Infrastructure Minister Tarcisio Freitas.

Yet Leite polls even worse than Doria, receiving only half the votes that the Sao Paulo governor would get, according to a XP/Ipespe survey released Friday. He says, however, that he would win the backing of more Brazilians once campaigning starts and his name gains national recognition. 

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Another obstacle for Leite’s presidential ambition is how to overturn a decision already taken by his Brazilian Social Democracy Party, known as PSDB. Former President Fernando Henrique Cardoso, the party’s honorary president, said on Monday that the primaries were democratically carried out and “must be respected.”

The PSDB, which governed the country between 1995 and 2002 under Cardoso, has been losing political influence in Brazil as voters flock to more polarizing political figures in recent elections. Former Sao Paulo Governor Geraldo Alckmin, a founding member of the PSDB, recently left the party and is now expected to become Lula’s running mate.  

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