00:00With Brazil's 2026 presidential elections only five months away, the relationship between its three branches of government is hitting a
00:08new speed bump.
00:09Our correspondent, Braemir, has more.
00:13On April 29th, Brazil's Senate rejected President Lula's nomination of Giorgi Macias for the Supreme Court.
00:19It was the first time the Senate had rejected a Supreme Court nomination in 135 years.
00:25And as the far-right Bolsonaro coalition celebrated, others worried that it might trigger the collapse of the governing coalition.
00:34I think we have to be very cautious.
00:39Some may say this sounds like a conspiracy theory.
00:44But I believe we are on the verge of a parliamentary coup attempt,
00:49which will start with the destruction of the Supreme Court.
00:57One week later, however, a lot of things have changed,
01:00with the first poll showing that the episode may have damaged the already unpopular Brazilian Congress's image more than it
01:06affected that of President Lula.
01:10We have seen the executive branch of government lose a lot of power to Congress since the time of President
01:15Fernando Henrique Cardoso.
01:17The blocking of Macias' nomination to the Supreme Court is another chapter in this story.
01:24Certainly, the federal government needs to analyze the mistakes it made in this procedure,
01:30But polls are showing that this episode has increased Lula's popularity.
01:36Meanwhile, as more and more conservative members of Congress see their names embroiled in the Banco Master corruption scandal,
01:43the lions of last week seem to have transformed into lambs,
01:47with last week's combativeness replaced with willingness to help pass legislation,
01:51like the new rare-earth minerals law introduced by President Lula.
01:57Things change very quickly in Brazil.
02:00For example, last week they didn't accept the President's nomination for the new Supreme Court justice,
02:09but this week things have already changed a lot,
02:12because one of the leaders of a major conservative party has been found with a lot of evidence showing
02:23how he was involved in receiving around 500,000 reais in kickbacks from a banker who is now in jail.
02:35With Brazil's presidential elections only five months away,
02:38it's fair to expect more power jockeying between the three branches of government.
02:43Brian Meir, Telesur, Recife.
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