Brazil Party Vote Boosts Rousseff in Impeachment Fight
- PMDB elects pro-government leader Picciani in 37-30 vote
- Impeachment losing strength, as there was no crime: Picciani
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The largest party in Brazil’s lower house of Congress re-elected a pro-government leader, strengthening President Dilma Rousseff’s hand in fending off impeachment.
In a 37 to 30 vote Wednesday, deputies of the Brazilian Democratic Movement Party, or PMDB, re-elected Congressman Leonardo Picciani, who has spoken out against efforts to remove Rousseff from office on charges she broke the budget law. He defeated Hugo Motta, who was backed by fellow party member and lower house chief Eduardo Cunha, one of the president’s most outspoken critics and a protagonist in the impeachment process.