The Heat: Brazil’s political future

World
Europe

Brazilian president, Michel Temer survived a vote to suspend him on corruption charges, despite 80% of voters believing he should face trial. The very unpopular president found support where he needed it, in the lower chamber of Congress and will now stay in power.

The country’s general attorney has indicated he may file two more criminal charges against Temer. Where does that leave Brazil, which will hold general elections in 2018?

When talking about the question how can a president who is facing an open-and-shut corruption case with only 5% of the popularity to survive in a congress, Paulo Sotreo, director of the Brazil Institute of the Woodrow Wilson International Center stated people voted to save Tember because they want to save themselves.

"The Brazilian population were totally disenchanted with their representatives of all political parties. And victory for Temer is a temporary one. The charges have been temporarily dropped," Sotreo added

Sotreo also analyzed that if he leaves the presidency, Temer will respond to those charges without the privileges of he has now and respond to the Supreme Court.

Besides, Sotreo noted that there’s also the possibility that new charges could be brought against Temer in the next month or so.

From Sotreo's perspective, Brazil is now facing an unpredictable and a very low-energy situation. He believes the one thing that will be surely continued is the public support to the investigations on corruption in Brazil.