Congress selects leaders after bruising fight.

SAO PAULO -- Brazil's Chamber of Deputies and Senate elected new leaders this week after months of conflict that has damaged the ruling coalition.

In a race that involved personal rivalries ad a breakdown of an alliance between the ruling Social Democratic Party of Brazil (PSDB) and the center-right Liberal Front Party (PFL), the Senate elected Jader Barbalho while the lower house elected Aecio Neves (PSDB).

Barbalho, a senator from Para state and a former government minister, is a member of the centrist Democratic Movement Party (PMDB) and the archenemy of the former president of the Senate, Antonio Carlos Magalhaes of the PFL. Barbalho's victory was a personal defeat for Magalhaes, who has not hidden his dislike for the PMDB candidate.

While the ruling alliance still remains intact, the loss of these key positions by the PFL, which has held one of the positions since 1995, could cause problems for President Fernando Henrique Cardoso and the ruling coalition during the rest of his term. The change of leadership and bitterness it engendered is expected to further slow the already glacial pace of the legislative process.