Brazil's far-right presidential candidate Jair Bolsonaro turned his party from a footnote in a crowded Congress into a national powerhouse on Sunday, underscoring a seismic shift in Latin America's biggest nation as voters raged against the political establishment.
Business-friendly Brazilian presidential candidate Geraldo Alckmin got the strongest boost yet to his campaign after a centrist coalition agreed to back him and chose their potential vice-presidential pick.
Brazil's Finance Minister, Henrique Meirelles, will step down from the government this week and join the ranks of the ruling Brazilian Democratic Movement Party, senior government officials said. The news of Meirelles' move was broken by the government's chief of staff, Eliseu Padilha.
Demonstrators marched across Brazil on Sunday calling for the resignation or ouster of President Michel Temer who is implicated in a widening corruption scandal that is undermining his government's fragile efforts to end a historic recession. Protests took place in cities including São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro, where hundreds of demonstrators marched along the shoreline, chanting and waving banners reading “Temer Out!”
Brazilian President Michel Temer since taking office, in May 2016, has faced one crisis after the other, and now the man who rose to power thanks to an impeachment process of Dilma Rousseff, faces himself the threat of removal from office.
Brazilians expressed their disenchantment and frustration on Sunday's municipal elections punishing parties involved in the major corruption schemes and political disputes as the country's economy has plunged into the worst economic recession almost a century including the loss of millions of jobs.
Next Sunday Brazilians will be going to the polls to elect mayors and councilors in 5.570 cities and towns across the country in what is the first test of the mood of voters since the impeachment of president Dilma Rousseff last month.
Former Brazilian president Lula da Silva accused the media conglomerate Globo, the country’s largest, of censoring suspended president, Dilma Rousseff, adding that the interim government of Michel Temer is seeking to take away social rights and is “delivering” the nation’s oil for exploitation by foreign interests.
Brazil’s top prosecutor asked the Supreme Court to open an investigation into opposition Senator Aécio Neves, the country’s leading opposition figure, as the vast Petrobras corruption probe engulfed more politicians. Neves, who narrowly lost the 2014 presidential election to Dilma Rousseff, was previously included in a list of some 50 politicians thought to have taken bribes originating from state-run companies.
Vice-president Michel Temer patiently preparing a coalition and a basic program if Dilma Rousseff is finally impeached said he will not be standing as a candidate for Presidency in 2018. Furthermore, he said he will support the proposal to end presidential re-election in Brazil.