Tarso Fernando Herz Genro is a Brazil

Brazil

Brazil , officially the Federative Republic of Brazil , is the largest country in South America. It is the world's fifth largest country, both by geographical area and by population with over 192 million people...

ian politician

Politician

A politician, political leader, or political figure is an individual who is involved in influencing public policy and decision making...

, and a member of the Workers' Party

Workers' Party (Brazil)

The Workers' Party is a democratic socialist political party in Brazil. Launched in 1980, it is recognized as one of the largest and most important left-wing movements of Latin America. It governs at the federal level in a coalition government with several other parties since January 1, 2003...

 (Partido dos Trabalhadores – PT). As a result of the Mensalão scandal

Mensalão scandal

The Mensalão scandal took place in Brazil in 2005 and threatened to bring down the government of Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva. Mensalão is a neologism and variant of the word for "big monthly payment"...

, Genro served the remainder of José Genoíno

José Genoíno

José Genoino Guimarães Neto is a Brazilian politician.Born in Quixeramobim in the state of Ceará, he fought as a guerrilla in one of the movements against the Brazilian military leaders Emílio Garrastazu Médici and Ernesto Geisel who ruled Brazil in the seventies...

's term as party president in 2005. Ricardo Berzoini

Ricardo Berzoini

Ricardo Berzoini was the President of the Workers' Party of Brazil from 2005 to 2010. He has served as minister for social security.-References:...

 was elected to the post later that year.

Following his service as interim president, Genro was a top political adviser to Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva

Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva

Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva , known popularly as Lula, served as the 35th President of Brazil from 2003 to 2010.A founding member of the Workers' Party , he ran for President three times unsuccessfully, first in the 1989 election. Lula achieved victory in the 2002 election, and was inaugurated as...

, former President of Brazil

President of Brazil

The president of Brazil is both the head of state and head of government of the Federative Republic of Brazil. The president leads the executive branch of the federal government and is the commander-in-chief of the Brazilian Armed Forces...

 (2006–2010), during the contentious, but quite successful, 2006 Presidential campaign

Brazilian general election, 2006

The 2006 election were marked by the now extinct "verticalization rule", which forced parties to form coalitions on a state level with the same parties with which they were allied nationwide. This rule was introduced at the 2002 general elections by the Supreme Electoral Court.All Chamber of...

. On 16 March 2007, he became the new Minister of Justice in Lula's cabinet

Cabinet of Brazil

The Cabinet of Brazil is composed of the Ministers of State and senior advisors of the executive branch of the federal government of Brazil. Cabinet officers are appointed and dismissed by the President. There are currently twenty-four Ministries of State and fourteen other cabinet-level...

.

Genro is the former mayor of Porto Alegre

Porto Alegre

Porto Alegre is the tenth most populous municipality in Brazil, with 1,409,939 inhabitants, and the centre of Brazil's fourth largest metropolitan area . It is also the capital city of the southernmost Brazilian state of Rio Grande do Sul. The city is the southernmost capital city of a Brazilian...

, the capital city of Rio Grande do Sul

Rio Grande do Sul

Rio Grande do Sul is the southernmost state in Brazil, and the state with the fifth highest Human Development Index in the country. In this state is located the southernmost city in the country, Chuí, on the border with Uruguay. In the region of Bento Gonçalves and Caxias do Sul, the largest wine...

, and was a candidate for the state's governorship on 2010. Since January 1, 2011, he is the state's Governor.