Michel Temer: youth, career, presidency

Michel Temer is a Brazilian lawyer and politician of Lebanese descent. He entered politics in the 1980s, when he joined the PMDB, and since then he has been Congressman in different mandates and was deputy in the Constituent Assembly. In 2010, he was elected Vice President of Brazil, being re-elected to the role in 2014.

As vice president, Michel Temer became known for articulating the overthrow of the incumbent, Dilma Rousseff. Assumed the presidency in August 2016, when the impeachment was confirmed by the Senate and government until 2019. His government was marked by austerity policies and a scandal of corruption with the direct involvement of the president.

Know more:Presidents of Brazil—who were they all?

Topics of this article

  • 1 - Summary about Michel Temer
  • 2 - Michel Temer's Youth
  • 3 - Michel Temer's professional career
  • 4 - Michel Temer's political career
  • 5 - Temer as president of Brazil

Summary about Michel Temer

  • Michel Temer is a Brazilian lawyer and politician, born into a Lebanese family.

  • He graduated in Law from the University of São Paulo in 1963.

  • He served as a university professor, lawyer, and attorney before entering politics.

  • In 1981, he joined the PMDB, remaining in that party for decades.

  • In 2016, he assumed the presidency after articulating the overthrow of the then president through impeachment.

Michel Temer's Youth

Michel Miguel Elias Temer Lulia was born on September 23, 1940, originally from Tietê, a city in the interior of the state of São Paulo. Michel Temer is the son of Lebanese immigrants who came to Brazil in the 1920's. His father was Nakhoul “Miguel” Elias Temer Lulia, and his mother was called Marchi Barbar Lulia, he being from a family that prospered through the production of rice and coffee.

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Temer was the youngest of his eight siblings and had access to a conventional education. In 1957, he moved to Sao Paulo City, where he completed his high school education. In São Paulo, he joined the Faculty of Law of the University of São Paulo in 1959 and graduated years later, completing the course in 1963.

Regarding Michel Temer’s academic background, it should be noted that he completed a doctorate in Public Law from the Pontifical Catholic University of São Paulo (PUC-SP) in 1974.

Michel Temer's professional career

On a professional level, Michel Temer began his career acting ascollege professor. He worked at different universities in the state of São Paulo, such as PUC-SP and the Faculty of Law of Itu, where he became deputy director.

Parallel to his university activities, Michel Temer has worked as a lawyer, initially acting in the field of labor law, but later approaching public law. In 1970, he took office as attorney for the state of São Paulo and also set up law firms.

Read too:Fernando Henrique Cardoso — Brazilian intellectual who was elected president in the 1990s

Michel Temer's political career

Michel Temer joined a political career in the early 1980s, joining the Brazilian Democratic Movement Party (PMDB) in 1981. In 1983, he was nominated by the governor of São Paulo, André Franco Montoro, to take over as Attorney General of the State of São Paulo. The following year, he took over as state secretary of public security.

At the head of this department, he was known for having founded the first Women's Police Station in Brazil, accomplishing the feat in 1985. Temer remained in that position until 1986, when he resigned to contest the election for the composition of the Constituent Assembly.

In the election for constituent federal deputy, Michel Temer was elected alternate and took office as federal deputy on March 16, 1987, because Deputy Tidei de Lima took a leave of absence to assume the Secretary of Agriculture of São Paulo. During his parliamentary work, Temer was a member of the Subcommittee on the Judiciary and the Public Ministry, of the Committee on the Organization of Powers and System of Government.

As a constituent, Michel Temer was against the Pity of death, The land reform and voting at age 16, but was in favor of legalizing abortion, right of strike, presidentialism and supported the proposal to keep the government of José Sarney with a duration of five years.

In 1990, Michel Temer contested the elections seeking to be elected again as a federal deputy, but again he only obtained the substitute. That's why, resumed his role as Pprosecutor-geral of It isstate of São Paulo, also assuming the Public Security Secretariat of São Paulo and the Government Secretariat.

In 1994, Michel Temer was elected federal deputy and was re-elected to the position in elections during the years 1998, 2002 and 2006. In 2010, he took a leave of absence from his position as a federal deputy to run à presidential election. As a federal deputy, he became president of the Chamber of Deputies on two occasions, occupying the position from 1997 to 2001 and from 2009 to 2010.

Temer as president of Brazil

In 2010, political negotiations led Michel Temer to be guest The assume the position of vice-president of Dilma Rousseff's ticket, candidate of the Workers' Party for the presidency of the republic. His invitation represented the victory of the proposal he defended for the PMDB to join the PT in the race for the presidency.

In that election, Dilma and Temer's ticket emerged victorious by winning 56.05% of the valid votes, defeating the candidate of the Brazilian Social Democracy Party (PSDB), José Serra, who obtained 43.95% of the votes valid. Michel Temer assumed the vice presidency on January 1, 2011 and he acted in Dilma's first government, mainly, as a political articulator between the government and his party.

It was Michel Temer who negotiated the interests of his party, the PMDB, with the PT government. In addition, she fulfilled an important diplomatic role, undertaking a series of official government trips in economic negotiations. For the 2014 election, it was considered that Temer could run for governor of the state of São Paulo for the PMDB.

This proposal did not please either the PMDB or the PT in São Paulo, and Temer remained in the running for vice-president in 2014. He acted in Dilma Rousseff's negotiations with members of the PMDB who were dissatisfied with Dilma's government. in that year, Dilma and Temer were re-elected with 51.64% of the valid votes.

In Dilma's second government, the political situation became delicate, and a crisis in her relationship with the PMDB began. The political crisis resulted in the breakup of the PMDB with the PT and its commitment to the impeachment of Dilma Rousseff. Soon Michel Temer abandoned the role of articulator of the government and became the articulator of the overthrow of Dilma Rousseff.

The overthrow of Dilma Rousseff ensured Michel Temer's inauguration in the presidency, and this impeachment it is understood by historians as a parliamentary coup. This blow is attributed, in part, to the desire of physiological political groups to overthrow the president in order to get rid of the investigations that were conducted in corruption scandals.

O Michel Temer's government was marked by the adoption of austerity measures, such as the spending cap, but his government was mainly marked by a corruption scandal in which the president was directly involved. Temer's government almost fell, but he refused to resign and used his parliamentary support to sustain himself in power.

In 2019, he made the transition from the presidential belt to Jair Bolsonaro, elected president of Brazil in 2018.

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[1] Celso Pupo It is Shutterstock

By Daniel Neves Silva
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