BRAZIL: House Repeals Corruption Charge Against President Temer

(RTTNews) - Brazil's House of Representatives blocked Wednesday night the corruption charge against President Michel Temer from reaching the Supreme Court and avoiding another change in the country's Presidency within a year of the next election.

Temer was formally charged with passive corruption by the prosecutor-general Rodrigo Janot at the end June. However, a trial would only occur during his mandate if both the House of Representatives and the Supreme Court accept the charges against the president.

Yesterday, 492 house representatives were voting on the complaint, and while most of them (263) were in favor of prosecuting Temer, 227 voted for shielding the president - or 55 more than the 172 needed.

The government and the investors were already expecting the House to protect Temer from a trial, but the representative's votes showed that some coalition parties were divided on the topic.

PSDB, which belongs to the government coalition in spite of waning support for Michel Temer from party members, had 22 votes in favor of blocking the charges against the president, and 21 votes to prosecute him.

In May, PSDB's acting chairman, Senator Tasso Jereissati, said that the party would remain a Temer administration's ally in the name of economic stability and reforms approval. However, he added during a press conference that "we are not government advocates."

The House of Representatives should now move to vote on other legislation, like the pension system reform bill. Experts believe that the government could lose support for the reform if the political turbulence persists - particularly if new charges involving Temer arise. Another bill waiting for a House vote would allow foreign companies to hold a controlling stake in Brazilian airlines. The current law limits the share of foreign companies in local airlines to 20%.