Brazil’s President Rejects Calls to Quit Amid New Corruption Claims -
- 7 years ago
Brazil’s President Rejects Calls to Quit Amid New Corruption Claims -
By SIMON ROMEROMAY 18, 2017
RIO DE JANEIRO — President Michel Temer of Brazil defied calls to resign on Thursday as an exploding scandal over claims
that he authorized the payment of hush money to a jailed ally engulfed Latin America’s largest country.
“The president of the republic is no longer in any condition to govern Brazil.”
Calls for Mr. Temer to step down multiplied on Thursday across Brazil’s political establishment, after a report by Globo, the country’s most powerful media group,
of a secret recording in which the president endorsed bribes paid to silence Eduardo Cunha, an imprisoned politician who helped orchestrate Ms. Rousseff’s ouster.
Still, Mr. Maia could serve as president for only 30 days, according to Brazil’s constitution, after which
Congress would elect a new president to serve the remainder of Mr. Temer’s term, which lasts through 2018.
Critics of the beleaguered president have been organizing street protests calling for direct elections, a prospect feared by some allies of Mr. Temer over the potential for figures like Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, a leftist
and former president, to capitalize on the political tumult
Mr. Temer, with approval ratings hovering around the single digits, had even expressed fury at the end of 2016 after one of his cabinet
ministers secretly recorded their conversation, accusing the president of pressuring him to help an ally in a property deal.
Brazil’s currency, the real, fell sharply against the dollar and stocks plunged in a sell-off punctuated by fears
that Mr. Temer would be forced to step down or find himself politically paralyzed, effectively stalling the president’s ambitious agenda of pushing broadly unpopular austerity measures through Congress.
By SIMON ROMEROMAY 18, 2017
RIO DE JANEIRO — President Michel Temer of Brazil defied calls to resign on Thursday as an exploding scandal over claims
that he authorized the payment of hush money to a jailed ally engulfed Latin America’s largest country.
“The president of the republic is no longer in any condition to govern Brazil.”
Calls for Mr. Temer to step down multiplied on Thursday across Brazil’s political establishment, after a report by Globo, the country’s most powerful media group,
of a secret recording in which the president endorsed bribes paid to silence Eduardo Cunha, an imprisoned politician who helped orchestrate Ms. Rousseff’s ouster.
Still, Mr. Maia could serve as president for only 30 days, according to Brazil’s constitution, after which
Congress would elect a new president to serve the remainder of Mr. Temer’s term, which lasts through 2018.
Critics of the beleaguered president have been organizing street protests calling for direct elections, a prospect feared by some allies of Mr. Temer over the potential for figures like Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, a leftist
and former president, to capitalize on the political tumult
Mr. Temer, with approval ratings hovering around the single digits, had even expressed fury at the end of 2016 after one of his cabinet
ministers secretly recorded their conversation, accusing the president of pressuring him to help an ally in a property deal.
Brazil’s currency, the real, fell sharply against the dollar and stocks plunged in a sell-off punctuated by fears
that Mr. Temer would be forced to step down or find himself politically paralyzed, effectively stalling the president’s ambitious agenda of pushing broadly unpopular austerity measures through Congress.