- Title: BRAZIL-ROUSSEFF/REAX Brazil's political crisis deepens around President Rousseff
- Date: 7th August 2015
- Summary: SAO PAULO, BRAZIL (AUGUST 6, 2015) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF ANTI-GOVERNMENT PROTESTERS BANGING POTS AND PANS AND FLASHING LIGHTS AS ROUSSEFF SPEAKS ON TELEVISION A MAN BANGING PANS SEEN THROUGH HIS BALCONY RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL (AUGUST 6, 2015) (REUTERS) ANTI-GOVERNMENT PROTESTER MARCELO SILVA BANGING A PAN AT HIS WINDOW SILVA LAUNCHING FIREWORKS OUT OF HIS WINDOW
- Embargoed: 22nd August 2015 13:00
- Keywords:
- Location: Brazil
- Country: Brazil
- Topics: General
- Reuters ID: LVAEMH4LL510ZWUGD1CHAOEAXTG9
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text: Brazil's political crisis deepened as Dilma Rousseff was reported the nation's most unpopular president on Thursday (August 6) and opposition leaders call for early elections or impeachment.
A Datafolha report published on Thursday showed 71 percent of Brazilians consider Rousseff's government bad or very bad. These figures class Rousseff the most unpopular leader since the institute began its reports in 1987, ranked below Fernando Collor who left office by impeachment in 1992.
The poll further showed that seven out of 10 respondents want to see her impeached, though experts say this currently has no legal foundations to go ahead.
The worst economic downturn in 25 years has undercut confidence in her leadership and raised the specter of impeachment for Rousseff just six months into her second term.
On top of this a widening political kickbacks scandal involving contracts at state-run oil company Petroleo Brasileiro has weakened Rousseff, put her leftist party against the ropes and rattled her allies, some of whom are suspected of receiving bribes.
Jose Dirceu, popular former President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva's chief of staff between 2003 and 2005, was arrested last week after being held under house arrest for running a vote-buying scheme.
His involvement in an even larger scandal threatens to bring the investigation closer to Lula and Rousseff, and has further angered the population.
"We are seeing scandal after scandal, and they (the government) are behind it. (Jose) Dirceu was arrested and the Workers' Party is basically finished, there is nothing more it can do. The population no longer believes in the government, and we are the ones who end up paying," a taxi-driver in Rio de Janeiro said on Friday morning.
"Commerce is very negative. Shops are closing, people are being fired, there are no prospects for things to improve. Three months ago we thought that things would improve by September, but now we are only looking to December to make decent sales. It is an ugly situation," added salesman, Leonardo Martins.
Rousseff's reelection campaign was built upon sustaining the Workers' Party's flagship social policies, such as conditional cash-transfer programmes for low-income families and social housing, which are now dwindling as she fails to generate the money to see them through.
As this scenario sits alongside rising inflation and unemployment, her traditional support among lower income sectors and the poorer northeast has dropped significantly.
For political analyst Ricardo Ismael, this is the most significant aspect of Rousseff's rising unpopularity.
"The datafolha poll shows that Rousseff's popularity not only fell among those who did not vote for her, but among those who did vote for her, and that is where the problem lies. If you go to ABC Paulista, which is the Workers' Party's syndical support base, her popularity is low there too. If you go to the northeast, the datafolha poll showed that of those interviewed in the northeast 67 percent want impeachment, they think that the way out of this is impeachment," Ismael told Reuters on Friday.
Brazilians throughout the country banged pots and pans and flashed their lights in angry protest as a recorded government message was transmitted on national TV on Thursday night. The "panelaco" is a traditional form of protest, which has accompanied each of the party's latest broadcasts.
Rousseff said in the broadcast that Brazil is going through a passage which involves some suffering, but assured that the country would return to economic growth and fulfill its potential, maintaining the old party line that she is there for the workers.
"I know that a lot needs to be improved, that there are a lot of Brazilians suffering, but together we will leave this behind. I have the ears and the heart for those who most need it and for those who sweat for their jobs. I am at your side, this is my path, and I will continue on," Rousseff told Brazilians across the national broadcast on Thursday.
She further warned against political crisis, which she said is what led to Brazil's military dictatorship of 21 years, under which she was tortured.
"I know how to deal with pressure and even injustice. I have the ears and the heart for our Brazil, which is never complacent, which is not satisfied with little, which has come to expect a lot of its government and its businesses, its hospitals and its schools, of politics, justice and above all, of itself," Rousseff added.
Opposition leaders have called for early elections or Rousseff's impeachment after she lost control of her political base in Congress, and Eduardo Cunha, the speaker of the lower house of Congress broke ranks with the government in late July.
However, Cunha said in an opinion article published on Friday by newspaper Folha de S. Paulo, that an impeachment process risks shaking the pillars of Brazil's democracy, and that he would not accept attempts to point him as the conspirator behind such a process.
Cunha, as House speaker, is responsible for opening impeachment proceedings. His PMDB party remains in Rousseff's coalition and also controls the Vice-Presidency and the Senate.
According to Ismael, there is no legal founding for an impeachment to go ahead at this time.
"The political scenario is a very difficult one for Lula, Rousseff and for the Workers' Party. However, it is clear that impeachment can only go ahead if there is concrete evidence which justifies a process of impeachment. The opposition does not gain anything, absolutely nothing at all by trying to speed up this process," Ismael said.
The crisis continues as two parties broke ranks with Rousseff's governing coalition on Wednesday night, fuelling a lopsided defeat on a lower chamber bill raising salaries for police officers, prosecutors and government attorneys. Even Rousseff's own Workers' Party voted for the spending bill.
Valor PRO financial news service then reported that Brazilian Vice President Michel Temer, who leads the Brazilian Democratic Movement Party (PMDB), Rousseff's main ally, told the president at their meeting that he was throwing in the towel as political go-between.
Rousseff has relied on Temer to push through austerity measures in Congress to try to reduce a fiscal deficit and save Brazil's investment-grade credit rating.
Temer denied the rumour on Friday, but his previous comment that the nation needed someone to resolve its political crisis caused friction within the Workers' Party. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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