Temer, Michel << TEH mehr, mee SHEHL >> (1940-…), served as president of Brazil from 2016 through 2018. He had served as vice president from 2011 to 2016. Temer then replaced President Dilma Rousseff after she was impeached (charged with and convicted of unlawful actions) and removed by the Senate. A lawyer by profession, he is considered an expert on constitutional law.
Michel Miguel Elias Temer Lulia was born in Tietê, São Paulo state, on Sept. 23, 1940. He was the youngest of eight children. Temer’s parents, Lebanese immigrants, were rice and coffee farmers. Temer studied law at the University of São Paulo, and later the Pontifical Catholic University of São Paulo, receiving a doctorate in law in 1974. In the 1980’s and 1990’s, he served as attorney general (chief law officer), then as secretary of public security, of São Paulo state. As secretary of public security, he worked to combat violence against women and protect intellectual property rights. Temer also participated in the National Constituent Assembly that wrote Brazil’s Constitution of 1988, still in effect today.
From 1987 to 2011, Temer served six terms in Brazil’s elected Chamber of Deputies, the lower house of the National Congress. He was elected for three terms as president of the Chamber of Deputies (speaker of the house), from 1997 to 2010. From 1995 to 1997, Temer also served as leader of the Brazilian Democratic Movement Party (PMDB), later renamed the Brazilian Democratic Movement party (MDB). He was president of the party from 2001 through 2010. The president chairs the party’s National Executive Committee.
In 2010, Temer was elected vice president of Brazil, as the running mate of presidential candidate Dilma Rousseff. Temer and Rousseff took office in 2011. They were reelected in 2014. Vice President Temer chaired two high-level diplomatic committees, with China and Russia, to foster cooperation between Brazil and those nations in trade and other matters.
In March 2016, the PMDB withdrew from the governing coalition, which included President Rousseff’s liberal Workers’ Party. At that time, Brazil was struggling with an economic recession (decline in business activity). In addition, a wide-ranging corruption investigation begun in 2014 had many Brazilians doubting their leaders. Known as “Operation Car Wash,” it involved Brazil’s national oil company and many prominent political and business figures. In May, Brazil’s Senate voted to begin an impeachment trial against Rousseff. Rousseff was suspended for the length of the trial, and Temer became acting president. In August, the Senate convicted Rousseff of manipulating the federal budget illegally and removed her from office.
Temer was sworn in as president on Aug. 31, 2016. He soon initiated reforms to revive Brazil’s economy. Temer remained president through December 2018, originally the end of Rousseff’s term.
Temer has written a number of books about constitutional law, as well as a book of poetry, Anonymous Intimacy (2013). He is married to Marcela Temer, a former model and beauty queen.
