Brazil's Congress reelects leaders

BRASILIA — Brazilian Senate President Rodrigo Pacheco and lower house speaker Arthur Lira were both reelected on Wednesday with a majority of votes in the National Congress elections.

Lira, 53, won in the biggest landslide in the country's history of lower house elections by obtaining 464 ballots from 509 deputies who voted. The speaker from the centrist Progressive Party gained support from 20 political parties.

The 46-year-old Pacheco of the Social Democratic Party held onto his Senate leadership job despite the challenge by his main rival Rogerio Marinho from former president Jair Bolsonaro's camp. He received 49 votes in the 81-member upper house, lower than the 57 ballots he gained in the 2021 election.

Pacheco and Lira were elected for a two-year term.

Their victories are widely seen as a boost for the current government.

President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva's center-left coalition celebrated the vote count that would allow his government to push through constitutional amendments, such as those needed to change Brazil's tax regime and create a new fiscal anchor to balance government accounts.

Control of either chamber by the opposition could have hampered approval of Lula's priorities, starting with temporary decrees he has signed that extend social welfare payments for poor families and reduce taxes on fuels.

During their speeches following the victory, both Pacheco and Lira condemned Bolsonaro supporters' intrusion into state power institutions in Brasilia on Jan 8. Pacheco said "toxic polarization" needs to be eradicated in Brazil, while Lira said the South American country "has no more room for those who attack state power institutions".

Pacheco, who rejected Bolsonaro's criticism of Brazil's electronic voting system, said the divided country needs pacification and political harmony.

But he added that pacification does not mean remaining silent before "anti-democratic acts", referring to the riots and calling for accountability.

Lira condemned the violence by Bolsonaro supporters.

"In today's Brazil, there is no more space for those who attack the institutions that symbolize our democracy," he said. "This chamber will not accept, defend or endorse any act, speech or demonstration that violates democracy."

Agencies - Xinhua