Alwaght- Beleaguered Brazilian President Michel Temer is under intense pressure to resign as calls for his removal continue to grow.
Thousands of people attended a protest concert on Copacabana Beach to demand a snap presidential election as pressure mounted on Brazil’s leader to resign amid corruption allegations.
The event on Sunday was called “Diretas Ja,” which translates as “Direct Elections Now”.
Temer’s popularity has slumped below 10 since he became president a little more than a year ago after Dilma Rousseff was impeached and removed from office.
The latest wave of protests was sparked by the release of an explosive wiretap that caught Temer on tape apparently endorsing bribes to keep a powerful witness — former speaker of the lower house and chief mastermind behind the ouster of former President Rousseff, Eduardo Cunha — from testifying in government corruption cases.
The president, who is also accused of being a US puppet, denies any wrongdoing, and said the tapes contain "false confessions" by suspects looking to lighten their sentences.
If Temer resigns or is forced out, Brazilian law calls for the speaker of the Chamber of Deputies to serve as interim president for up to 30 days until Congress decides who will finish the term that runs through 2018. Brazil’s constitution sets out indirect elections as the next step if Temer is removed from office, which many analysts expect is likely as his approval ratings sit at single digits and seem set to continue to worsen.
Brazil’s constitution sets out indirect elections as the next step if Temer is removed from office, which many analysts expect is likely as his approval ratings sit at single digits and seem set to continue to worsen.
Opposition forces in Congress — including the Workers’ Party, or PT, of former Presidents Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva and Rousseff — are pushing for a constitutional amendment that would make direct generals elections by Brazilian voters the way to choose the next president.
The removal of Rousseff last year in an impeachment process widely condemned as a parliamentary coup marked a conservative grab for power that the country’s right-wing parties couldn’t win at the ballot box for years.
Temer, who took office in August 2016, also faces accusations of being a US protégé after WikiLeaks documents showed he previously spied for the US spy agencies in the country.
According to the whistleblowing website, Temer communicated with the US embassy in Brazil via telegram, and such content would be classified as "sensitive" and "for official use only.
