BRASILIA (Reuters) — Brazil’s lower house speaker, Rodrigo Maia, said on Friday that now was not the time to handle an impeachment process against President Jair Bolsonaro, adding he would only accept such a request if he was sure a crime had been committed and after the coronavirus pandemic was over.
In an interview to Radio Eldorado, Maia said an impeachment would face resistance inside the Congress, and in the country too. “I don’t see a room for this nor conditions to accept it,” he said.
So far, 48 impeachment requests have been filed against Bolsonaro in the lower house and it is up to Maia to decide whether to accept any of them.
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Reporting by Lisandra Paraguassu; Writing by Gabriela Mello; Editing by Alex Richardson
Image: Brazil’s President Jair Bolsonaro looks on before a ceremony of lowering the national flag for the night, amid the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak, at the Alvorada Palace in Brasilia, Brazil, July 22, 2020. (REUTERS/Adriano Machado)
