Temer hints at run for new term
RIO DE JANEIRO: Michel Temer, the deeply unpopular president of Brazil, signalled that he intends to seek a full term in October’s election, telling a news magazine in an interview published this weekend that “it would be cowardly not to be a candidate.”
Mr Temer took office in mid-2016 after helping lead the impeachment of president Dilma Rousseff, for whom he served as vice president. But Mr Temer, 77, a veteran politician of the centre-right, has had a tumultuous presidency, spending much of the past year fending off criminal charges of corruption and obstruction of justice.
Winning a new term would allow Mr Temer to maintain the special legal standing afforded to senior government officials, which has shielded him from trial. On two occasions last year, Congress voted to protect him from facing charges before the Supreme Court.
Mr Temer had said as recently as last month that he did not intend to run. But in this weekend’s interview with the news magazine Istoé, Mr Temer said he came to believe he needed to defend his legacy.
“I’ve fixed a country that was broken,” said Mr Temer, who leads the Brazilian Democratic Movement party. “I’m proud of what I’ve done and I need to show what’s being done.”
Mr Temer argued that he hadn’t been given credit for the country’s advancements since he took office in August 2016. The economy grew 1% last year, after shrinking almost 8% between 2015 and 2016.
But Mr Temer’s agenda, which has included an overhaul of labour laws that has weakened unions, has led critics to charge that he has usurped the will of voters who elected Ms Rousseff, a leftist.
And the horse trading that spared him from prosecution last year also turned him into a vilified figured. Brasilia, the capital, is plastered with graffiti that says “Fora Temer,” or “Out With Temer.” A prominent samba school depicted him as a vampire in Rio de Janeiro’s carnival last month.
In polls, Mr Temer’s approval ratings have been mired in the single digits for many months.
Mr Temer’s remarks are the latest development in a volatile race. The front-runner,
former president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, appears likely to go to jail before he can formally register his candidacy, as a result of a corruption conviction handed down last year.
Jair Bolsonaro, a far-right lawmaker regarded as a fringe politician until recently, is running second in the polls.
Prominent allies of Mr Temer are also considering candidacies. They include Finance Minister Henrique Meirelles and House Speaker Rodrigo Maia, a key supporter of the president in Congress. Mr Temer’s bid may complicate efforts of centrist parties to coalesce around a candidate.
Fabio Wanderley Reis, a political scientist at the Federal University of Minas Gerais, said the president had little to lose by running. “I think this is an attempt to crawl out of the hole,” he said. “He is calculating that there is no danger that things can get any worse for him.”