Rousseff suffers her first blow in the new Brazilian Congress

Brasilia.-Eduardo Cunha, a deputy who opposed various legislative proposals of the president’s government during her first term, is the new president of the Chamber of Deputies

The Government of Dilma Rousseff suffered its first major defeat of the new legislature at the opening of the Brazilian Congress, held this Sunday. Deputy Eduardo Cunha, from the opposition PMDB, was elected president of the Chamber of Deputies in the first round. Cunha, an old headache for Dilma’s Government, received 267 votes, ten more than necessary, after running a campaign that emphasized the separation between legislators and the Executive. The consolation that the president received on the day is that her candidate for the Senate, Renan Calheiros, also from the PMDB, was re-elected without incident.

After the announcement of his victory, Cunha proclaimed that he will be the “president of all” and that, despite the “intention of the Executive to intervene” in the elections for the Chamber of Deputies, he had no grudges. «There is no desire on our part to retaliate. It was a highly contested campaign, but the people made it very clear that they were seeking independence from Parliament. [frente al Ejecutivo]. It is [el Congreso] It is the scenario where the debates that are needed and that will be held, with complete certainty, must be carried out. “We never said we would be opposition, but we said we would not be submissive, and we will not be.”

The new president of the Chamber of Deputies, who confronted the Rousseff Government particularly during the exhausting voting process for the Ports Law in 2013, will have the power to define what will go to vote in the House. Without being aligned with the Planalto Palace, despite being part of the base of the Government, Cunha could cause problems for the president if he plans projects that could force the Executive to make more expenses than it had planned, especially in a year in which who had planned an economic adjustment.

Eduardo Cunha, a deputy who opposed various legislative proposals of the president’s government during her first term, is the new president of the Chamber of Deputies

The Government of Dilma Rousseff suffered its first major defeat of the new legislature at the opening of the Brazilian Congress, held this Sunday. Deputy Eduardo Cunha, from the opposition PMDB, was elected president of the Chamber of Deputies in the first round. Cunha, an old headache for Dilma’s Government, received 267 votes, ten more than necessary, after running a campaign that emphasized the separation between legislators and the Executive. The consolation that the president received on the day is that her candidate for the Senate, Renan Calheiros, also from the PMDB, was re-elected without incident.

After the announcement of his victory, Cunha proclaimed that he will be the “president of all” and that, despite the “intention of the Executive to intervene” in the elections for the Chamber of Deputies, he had no grudges. «There is no desire on our part to retaliate. It was a highly contested campaign, but the people made it very clear that they were seeking independence from Parliament. [frente al Ejecutivo]. It is [el Congreso] It is the scenario where the debates that are needed and that will be held, with complete certainty, must be carried out. “We never said we would be opposition, but we said we would not be submissive, and we will not be.”

The new president of the Chamber of Deputies, who confronted the Rousseff Government particularly during the exhausting voting process for the Ports Law in 2013, will have the power to define what will go to vote in the House. Without being aligned with the Planalto Palace, despite being part of the Government’s base, Cunha could cause problems for the president if he plans projects that could force the Executive to make more expenses than it had planned, especially in a year in which who had planned an economic adjustment.