On Wednesday, Brazil’s lower-house congress elected an ally of Interim President Michel Temer as its new speaker, who will help push highly disputed reforms. Maia is a trained economist who previously worked in banking before starting his political carrer as well as a representative from the right-wing Democrats party (DEM). He was elected with 285 votes in the 513-member Chamber of Deputies and announced he would help Temer pursue the reforms which aim to pull the economy out of the immense recession.

The new speaker will be crucial to the government's efforts to cap public spending and open up the economy.

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Brazil has been subject to a massive fraud scheme in the state-owned oil giant Petrobras, while suffering a contractive economy (it has the biggest recession since 1930). Among the crisis, the opposition led by Eduardo Cunha, linked President Dilma Rouseff to the scandal. Eduardo Cunha himself has been asked to step down by the Brazilian Supreme Court as he’s also said to be implicated in the scandal and has also appeared in the Panama Papers. While President Dilma Rouseff’s impeachment trial is taking place, Michel Temer has taken her post as Interim President.

The new government assigned by Temer has been making various changes, in which government spending is being cut which they claim will help better the economy, whereas critics point out the reforms (click here and here) are being conducted at the cost of social benefits. Recently, a third minister, appointed by the Interim President has been denounced due to links to corruption (following the resignation of the Minister of Transparency). Temer has also been linked to the corruption scandal by the allegations made by a former Petrobras executive, Sergio Machado. A verdict in the impeachment trial will come after Olympics.

For more on the impeachment (accuser’s point of view) click here and here.
For more on the impeachment (defendant’s point of view) click here and here.