SAO PAULO (AP) – Brazil’s largest party abandoned President Dilma Rousseff’s governing coalition Tuesday, making it tougher for her to survive mounting pressure in Congress for her impeachment.
The Brazilian Democratic Movement Party, known as the PMDB, said after a meeting that six Cabinet ministers belonging to the party as well as some 600 federal government employees who are members must step down. The announcement was made after more than 100 lawmakers approved the decision, according to the press office of Romero Juca, an influential senator.
“As of today in this historical meeting for the PMDB, the party withdraws from the base of the government of President Dilma Rousseff and no one in the country is authorized to hold any federal position in name of the PMDB,” Juca said to loud cheers and applause after the decision was approved.
The session ended with chants calling for the end of Rousseff’s Worker’s Party and for Vice President Michel Temer to become Brazil’s president. Temer, who is the leader of the Democratic Movement, would assume the presidency if Rousseff was impeached for breaking fiscal laws.
The break increases the chance that Rousseff, whose popularity has plunged amid Brazil’s worst recession in decades and corruption scandals, will be impeached in the coming months.