Brasilia, June 10 (AFP) Brazil’s election court has voted against stripping President Michel Temer of his office in a major boost to his chances of beating a gathering corruption scandal.
The Supreme Electoral Tribunal (TSE) considering charges that Temer’s election in 2014 should be annulled because of the role of corruption money Friday voted 4-3 to acquit the embattled center-right president.
The verdict spared recession-ravaged Brazil its second leadership crisis in 14 months, following the impeachment of leftist president Dilma Rousseff last year and her replacement by her then-vice president Temer.
The lead judge on the TSE case, Justice Herman Benjamin, headed the push to sack Temer, saying that systemic undeclared donations and bribes from big Brazilian corporations fatally undermined the 2014 Rousseff-Temer election in Latin America’s biggest country.
Finally, the TSE’s president Gilmar Mendes cast the deciding vote with a call for cool heads and stability at a time of national turmoil.
Agencies France-Presse