BRASILIA (Reuters) – Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff’s main coalition partner served notice yesterday that it could break from her embattled Workers’ Party government in 30 days and join opposition efforts to unseat the leftist leader.
At a rowdy convention of the fractious Brazilian Democratic Movement Party (PMDB), leaders quashed a motion by irate delegates who wanted to quit Rousseff’s government immediately, before it goes down in a political storm over corruption and economic recession.
Instead, Brazil’s largest party agreed to put off that decision for 30 days and leave it to the party executive committee, ensuring unity behind its leader, Michel Temer, who is Rousseff’s vice president.
Party insiders said this gives the PMDB time to gauge the level of support in the country for the impeachment of Rousseff sought by opposition parties in Congress, which could put Temer in the presidential seat. Rousseff’s opponents have called nationwide demonstrations against her today.
While the PMDB has six ministers in Rousseff’s cabinet, the convention banned members from accepting new posts until the party decides to leave the government or not in one month.
The widening corruption probe surrounding state-run oil company Petrobras has turned many PMDB lawmakers against Rousseff, threatening to split her coalition and increasing chances of her impeachment in Congress this year.
Plea bargain testimony by defendants in the bribery and political kickback scandal have led prosecutors closer to Rousseff’s inner circle, including Workers’ Party founder and former president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva who is being investigated for allegedly benefiting from graft money.
The anti-Rousseff faction of the PMDB rallied the convention with chants of “Out with Dilma” and “Out with the Workers’ Party” and “Temer for president.”
“This was the PMDB’s most anti-Workers’ Party convention in 12 years. Not a single leader spoke in favor of the government, even the ministers in the cabinet remained silent,” said Darcisio Perondi, a lawmaker from Rio Grande do Sul state.
The PMDB reconfirmed Temer as its leader by 96 percent of the votes cast, a sign of unity in a party that is touting itself as the best option to overcome Brazil’s political crisis and pull the country out of a severe recession.
In his speech, Temer said the PMDB has a blueprint to stimulate business, reduce the size of government, create new jobs and restore growth to an economy that shrank 3.8 per cent last year, its worst performance in 25 years.
