Brasilia: Brazil’s President Dilma Rousseff said she
would call a referendum on holding early elections if she is reinstated as
president — an offer, which analysts saw as a bid to sway undecided senators to
help clear her in an impeachment trial.
If Rousseff survives the Senate trial, expected to
conclude in August, the Constitution would provide for her to serve out her
term until 2018, although she would be scarred and in a weak position to
govern.
Rousseff’s proposal for early elections, which
emerged on Thursday, is seen by many political analysts as a way out of
Brazil’s political crisis because it would subject a political class tainted by
scandal to a popular vote. Rousseff’s supporters have questioned the legitimacy
of an interim government led by her Vice President Michel Temer, which is
governing while she is suspended for the duration of the trial.
Protesters took to the streets of several cities in
Brazil late on Friday in the first widespread organized demonstration against
Temer. There were no official estimates regarding the number of people in the
protests.
Most participants were from leftist parties or from
movements such as the landless rural workers. Former president Luiz Inacio Lula
da Silva took part in one of the protests, in Sao Paulo. He called on Temer to
step down.
Just one in 10 Brazilians view Temer’s government
positively and a majority want new elections this year, a poll showed this
week.
Temer’s camp has opposed the idea of early
elections, which would require a constitutional amendment by Congress.
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