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Michel Temer
Retired figureBrazilBorn 1940

Michel Temer

President of Brazil (2016-2018) · Vice President of Brazil (2011-2016)

Brazilian lawyer and PMDB veteran who took over as president in 2016 after Dilma Rousseff was impeached, and whose term brought a federal spending cap and a labor law overhaul.

Compare yourself See the 12 scores
Profile on 12 axes9 of 12 documented
ECONOMYSTATESOCIETYWORLDOwnershipMarketsWelfareAuthoritySecurityStructureMoralityReligionTechnologyCultureTradeForeign
Where they stand

Michel Temer, axis by axis

  1. 01Ownership+40
    PublicPrivate
  2. 02Markets+45
    PlannedFree
  3. 03Welfare+40
    SharedSelf-reliant
  4. 04Authority0
    DemocraticStrong leader

    He came to power through the constitutional order of succession once Rousseff was impeached, and he had a congressional majority. His opponents call the impeachment a parliamentary coup, and his ratings stayed very low, so no direction is given.

  5. 05Security+40
    LibertyOrder

    The score mostly reflects the 2018 federal takeover of public security in Rio de Janeiro, run by an army general.

  6. 06Structure+20
    LocalCentral

    By taking over Rio's security, the federal government assumed a basic state responsibility. His fiscal agenda also placed a ceiling on federal spending.

  7. 07MoralityNo clear record
    ProgressiveTraditional

    No consistent public stance on family or moral legislation has been documented.

  8. 08ReligionNo clear record
    SecularReligious
  9. 09TechnologyNo clear record
    EmbraceCaution
  10. 10Culture-25
    MulticulturalNational identity

    He approved the 2017 Migration Law, which frames migration as a human rights issue and replaced a rule from the military period, although he vetoed some parts.

  11. 11Trade-20
    GlobalProtected
  12. 12Foreign policy-20
    CooperationStrength

3 axes have no clear record, so matching leaves them out.

Who is Michel Temer?

Michel Temer was born in 1940 in Tietê, São Paulo state, the child of Lebanese immigrants. He earned a law degree at the University of São Paulo, lectured on constitutional law and ran public security for the state of São Paulo before joining Congress in 1987. He chaired the lower house three times and led the PMDB for a long time. Brazilians elected him vice president twice, in 2010 and 2014, on Dilma Rousseff's ticket. He turned against her in 2015. When the Senate suspended her in May 2016, he took charge, and he became president in August. He did not seek a second term in 2018. He has no public post but stays in the MDB. In October 2026 he openly supported Senator Flávio Bolsonaro in the presidential runoff.

Political views

  • Drove through a 2016 constitutional amendment that caps federal primary spending for two decades, allowing growth only to match inflation.Source: planalto.gov.br
  • Approved a labor reform in 2017 that puts negotiated deals above some labor-code rules and made the mandatory union fee optional.Source: planalto.gov.br
  • Approved a 2017 law that opened the way for companies to outsource more of their work.Source: planalto.gov.br
  • Offered a pension reform with higher retirement ages, which Congress left unpassed while he was president.Source: en.wikipedia.org
  • In February 2018 ordered the federal government to take over public security in Rio de Janeiro, placing an army general in charge.Source: planalto.gov.br
  • Approved the 2017 Migration Law, which replaced the Foreigners' Statute of 1980.Source: planalto.gov.br

Legacy

His supporters say Temer led Brazil out of a severe recession, regained trust in the budget through the spending cap, modernised employment rules and cleaned up state companies like Petrobras. Opponents, among them the Workers' Party, treat his rise as the result of an illegitimate impeachment. They say the cap and the labor law weakened social protection and workers' rights. Public approval of him sank into single figures. Prosecutors brought two charges in 2017, one for passive corruption and one for obstruction of justice and running a criminal organization. They followed a recorded conversation with the businessman Joesley Batista. The Chamber of Deputies blocked both cases. Investigators in the Car Wash probe held him for a short time in 2019, and courts later acquitted him in the main cases.

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Michel Temer: questions

How did Temer end up as Brazil's president?

As Dilma Rousseff's vice president he was next in line. After the Senate suspended her in May 2016 he served as acting president, and when she was removed that August he took the office. Her allies called this a coup.

What party is Michel Temer in?

He is a member of the MDB, the party known earlier as the PMDB. He led it for years, and today he holds no public office.

What is the Temer spending cap?

It is a 2016 constitutional amendment that holds federal primary spending flat after inflation for 20 years. Backers say it rebuilt trust in public finances. Critics argue it starves social programs.

Sources

Portrait: Presidente Michel Temer (foto oficial) - cortada.jpg by Beto Barata/PR, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons. Cropped and converted to grayscale by 12axes-test.com.