She prevailed against the PSDB candidate José Serra (* 1942), who received 44% of the vote. This was the first time that a woman was elected to the presidency. The parties supporting Rousseff achieved a clear majority of the seats in the parliamentary elections in both the House of Representatives and the Senate. On January 1, 2011, Rousseff took her oath of office as President in Congress. Rousseff started in July 2011 launched an anti-corruption campaign after several members of her cabinet were suspected of doing so. On August 2, 2012, the largest corruption trial in the country’s history began before the Supreme Court. 37 former ministers, parliamentarians, entrepreneurs and bankers were on trial after seven years of investigation. They have been charged with corruption, embezzlement, money laundering, fraud and gang formation. In particular, it concerned monthly payments or donations to members of parliament during the term of office of the former head of state Lula da Silva, against whom investigations were also started. Long prison terms were imposed on 25 defendants. Lula da Silva involvement in the affair could not be proven. Protests against price increases in local public transport developed in June 2013 into large-scale nationwide demonstrations against corruption and social injustice as well as against the high costs of the 2014 World Cup and the 2016 Olympic Games. This resulted in violent clashes between the demonstrators and the police. Head of state Rousseff resigned on June 26, 2013 a comprehensive package of measures. Congress eventually yielded to several of the protesters’ demands, including: to invest the billions in revenues from the oil industry in the education and health sector in the future. Nevertheless, protests, some of them violent, broke out again in more than 135 cities on Brazilian Independence Day in September 2013, followed by serious clashes in São Paulo at the end of October. Brazil is a country of South America defined by zipcodesexplorer, com.

Presidential and parliamentary elections took place on October 5th, 2014. The electoral alliance “With the strength of the people” led by the PT was able to win clear majorities in the House of Representatives and Senate. Incumbent Rousseffmissed the required absolute majority in the presidential election with 41.6% and thus had to win a runoff election on October 26, 2014 against PSDB chairman Aécio Neves da Cunha (* 1960), who won 33.6% of the votes as the second-placed candidate had to compete. In the casting vote, Rousseff then prevailed against Neves with 51.6% of the vote.

President Rousseff took up her second term of office on January 1, 2015. Since the new government expected a high deficit for 2015, the Ministry of Finance announced in February 2015, contrary to election promises, a radical austerity package. It included, inter alia. cuts in social benefits, cuts in the budget and the removal of subsidies. Resistance grew among the population. On March 15, 2015, well over 1 million people protested against corruption and the government in large nationwide demonstrations. In August 2015, the largest opposition party, the PSDB, and smaller parties joined the protest marches for the first time. In response, the President reshuffled her cabinet in early October 2015. In the meantime, the corruption scandal surrounding the energy company Petrobras has come to a head further to. After former Petrobras executives had accused the ruling coalition of Rousseff and that of their predecessor Lula da Silva as key witnesses of receiving illegal donations amounting to millions since 2003, the ruling party PT was also investigated. In August 2015, the Supreme Court initiated proceedings against numerous politicians for bribery payments by the group.

Eduardo Cosentino da Cunha (* 1958), the President of the Chamber of Deputies, who himself is suspected of corruption and a political opponent of Rousseff, allowed an opposition motion to initiate impeachment proceedings against the President on December 2nd, 2015. The opposition alleged that incorrect budget figures were presented in the run-up to the 2014 elections. In October 2015, the Supreme Electoral Court decided to investigate allegations of corruption against the president in connection with illegal campaign funding. On March 13, 2016, more than three million people across the country demonstrated for the removal of the head of state. On March 16, 2016, Rousseff brought in Lula da Silva, who was also suspected of corruption as chief of staff in the presidential office. Critics accused the president of wanting to protect Lula da Silva from criminal prosecution by appointing him to the executive branch. On April 11, 2016, a special commission of the National Congress voted for the initiation of impeachment proceedings against the President. In the first chamber of parliament, 367 members voted for it on April 17, 2016, 137 voted against. This gave the necessary two-thirds majority to decide on the formal opening of the dismissal procedure in the now competent second chamber, the Senate. Even before the vote, two important parties (PMDB and PP) had terminated their participation in the government. President of ParliamentCosentino da Cunha was suspended from his post by the Supreme Court on May 5, 2016 in connection with allegations of corruption. On May 12, 2016, the Senate voted 55 to 22 in favor of opening the impeachment proceedings. This meant thatD. Rousseff was initially suspended as president for 180 days, during which the allegations were reviewed. The management of the official business went to Vice President M. Temer of the PMDB. On August 31, 2016, the Senate voted 61 to 20 for the final impeachment of Rousseff. After the Senate decision, Temer became sworn in as the new president. The new government tried to revive the Brazilian economy, but quickly lost its reputation in connection with allegations of corruption. On the night of August 3, 2017, a majority in the Chamber of Deputies voted against lifting President Temer’s immunity and suspending him from office in connection with a charge on suspicion of corruption.

In the super election year 2018, the Brazilians voted on October 7, 2018 on the president and a new congress. The presidential election that was carried out brought about a turning point for the political class battered by corruption scandals. The right-wing populist J. Bolsonaro from the Social Liberal Party won the runoff election on October 28, 2018 against the candidate of the PT Workers’ Party, Fernando Haddad (* 1963), with 55.1% of the vote. In his election campaign, the retired army captain announced a radical change in policy by lifting legal restrictions on the purchase of weapons and withdrawing from the Paris climate protection agreement. Bolsonaro took up his presidency on January 1, 2019.