BRASILIA, Brazil -- The lower house of Brazil's Congress voted Wednesday to block a corruption trial against Michel Temer, a victory for the embattled president that occurred 15 months after his predecessor was suspended over financial irregularities.
Temer needed the support of one-third of the 513 members of the lower Chamber of Deputies, or 171 members. In the end, 263 deputies voted for the president and 227 voted against him. The other lawmakers abstained or were absent.
Despite Temer's victory, Attorney General Rodrigo Janot, who leveled the bribery charge against Temer, is expected to charge him with obstruction of justice by the end of the month. That would provoke a second vote, forcing his allies to once again decide whether to risk their own political futures by sticking with the deeply unpopular leader. All 513 seats in the chamber are up for election next year.
The latest national poll said just 5 percent of Brazilians approve of Temer.
Temer's predecessor, Dilma Rousseff, was suspended in May 2016 on charges of budget mismanagement, and she was removed from the presidency three months later.
A Section on 08/03/2017