Brazil Congress elected two allies of Bolsonaro to head the Senate and lower house

Two allies of the Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro made sweeping victory for critical leadership roles in Congress on Monday amid frail nationwide campaigns for his government’s resignation and slow impeachment drives. Endorsed by the Brazilian President, Congressman Arthur Lira was elected as speaker of the lower house in the Chamber of Deputies, and another ally of the far-right leader Rodrigo Pacheco was designated the ‘Senate speaker’ for up to a minimum of two years tenure. In an act to reclaim the political grip of his center-right Progressive Party, the Brazilian leader pushed to endorse to get legislation approved in Congress. Federal Senate declared Pacheco’s win by 57-81, while Lira was elected to preside in 21-22 biennium by 302-513. 

In the polls that began Monday, Bolsonaro played key gatekeeper in Congress to relinquish 61 impeachment filings against his presidency in lower house and cement splintered political links with Congress. Shortly after the runner from the center-right Democrats party was elected President for the Senate, the leader’s critic outgoing Speaker Rodrigo Maia vetoed House’s efforts of impeachment, even as his successor Luiz Felipe Baleia Rossi was defeated by 145 votes in lower house dispute. 

“Neutrality should mark this presidency, the respect to the customs, to the minority and the majority,” Lira, accepting the Lower House leadership told reporters, defying Bolsanaro’s opponents who are midway through a four-year term. In a statement recorded by The Associated Press, a political scientist at the Center for Latin American & Latino Studies at American University in Washington, Beatriz Rey, alleged that the win of the Brazilian leader’s two political allies did not ‘nullify’ his chances of getting impeached. 

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[Arthur Lira and Brazil President Jair Bolsonaro. Courtesy: Twitter/@jairbolsonaro]

“Bolsonaro has won, but it is not clear whether he will get unconditional support,” Rey told Associated Press reporters.

“He has no coalition in Congress and that is why he is so active in this election. But he can still lose control if he has an issue with spending if his Cabinet reshuffle doesn’t work. The president needs the support of these center-right parties,” he added.

Bolsonaro's $92 million funding

With political ratings for Brazil’s president dipping to 30 percent range, the centrist group of lawmakers gained momentum in power in doling out government’s key positions, a coordinator of post-graduate studies in institutional and government relations noted.  In Monday’s edition, Brazil’s leading newspaper Estado de S.Paulo alleged that the explicit support for Bolsonaro and his 44-year-old Democrats (DEM) party ally’s victory was earmarked after his administration's directing of $92 million in funding for lawmakers’ projects. State press attributed Senate Speaker’s win and shelving of motions of impeachment to explicit backing of Progressive Party from Workers Party (PT), and former leftist presidents Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva (2003-2010) and Dilma Rousseff (2011-2016). 

[Senator Rodrigo Pacheco and Brazil President Jair Bolsonaro. Courtesy: Twitter/@jairbolsonaro]

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(Image Credit: The Associated Press)