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Articulation to Make Brazil's Speaker Rodrigo Maia President Grows in the Lower House
07/07/2017 - 10h10
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BRUNO BOGHOSSIAN
MARINA DIAS
FROM BRASÍLIA
The maneuvers to make Rodrigo Maia (DEM-RJ), the speaker of the Lower House, substitute Michel Temer as the president of Brazil are gaining support among Temer's base and have been discussed even at the official residence of the president of the house in Brasília.
The accusation against Temer of official misconduct and the quick decline of the president's political status in the government changed Maia's behavior in the background and made politicians regard Maia, the first in the presidential line of succession, as a potential new commander of Brazil.
Throughout the crisis begun by the plea bargain of JBS executives, which affected Temer directly, Maia avoided any discussion regarding the possibility of substituting the president. Folha verified, however, that recently Maia began to tell his closer allies that it could occur.
The speaker of the Lower House, however, denies publicly any action to weaken the government.
Federal legislators and parties comprising the government's base, such as the PSD, PP, PSB, Podemos and DEM, are now approaching Maia offering support to follow through with the accusation against Temer in the house and support to a new government.
Maia says he believes that Temer will be able to stop the first accusation – made by the Prosecutor General's Office – in the plenary sitting in the Lower House.
Supporting parties, however, understand that the president's political base is likely to deteriorate after the next two accusations to be made.
If federal legislators approve the beginning of proceedings, Temer will be suspended for up to 180 days during his trial at the country's Supreme Court and Maia will take office to become interim president.
If Temer is sentenced, he will be ousted definitively and the congress will have indirect elections. The speaker of the Lower House is pointed as the clear favorite in this scenario.
In collaboration with TALITA FERNANDES, from Brasília.
Translated by THOMAS MUELLO
Read the article in the original language
Alan Marques/Folhapress | ||
Brazil's lower house speaker Rodrigo Maia |