![\"A](\"https:\/\/ichef-1.bbci.co.uk\/news\/624\/cpsprodpb\/15A97\/production\/_97172788_040893751-1.jpg\")
<\/p>\nThe Brazilian Congress has voted not to put President Michel Temer on trial for corruption.<\/p>\n
Opposition lawmakers in the lower house of Congress failed to obtain the two-thirds majority needed to send the case to the Supreme Court.<\/p>\n
Mr Temer welcomed the vote as “clear and incontestable”.<\/p>\n
The president has been accused of receiving $12m (\u00a39m) in bribes from the boss of a giant meatpacking firm, JBS. He has denied the allegation.<\/p>\n
In the 513-seat chamber, 263 voted against the motion to send the president for trial and 227 voted in favour, well below the 342 needed for the motion to pass.<\/p>\n
“With the support the lower house has given me, we will pass all the reforms that the country needs,” President Temer said, after the vote.<\/p>\n
“Now it is time to invest in our country. Brazil is ready to start growing again.”<\/p>\n
He vowed to complete his term of office, which ends in December 2018.<\/p>\n
The Congress session was marred by scenes of chaos and angry exchanges.<\/p>\n
Lawmakers shouted abuse, pushed each other and threw fake bank notes at their opponents.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Mr Temer’s supporter argued his dismissal would cause instability and damage Brazil’s ailing economy.<\/p>\n
“I am in favour of all investigations, but the moment we are living in is very delicate and we need to recover the economy,” said Luiz Claudio from the centre-right Republic Party.<\/p>\n
Mr Temer became president last year following the impeachment of his predecessor, Dilma Rousseff.<\/p>\n
She was found guilty of tampering with the government accounts in order to hide a growing deficit ahead of her re-election in 2014.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The Brazilian Congress has voted not to put President Michel Temer on trial for corruption. Opposition lawmakers in the lower house of Congress failed to obtain the two-thirds majority needed to send the case to the Supreme Court. Mr Temer welcomed the vote as “clear and incontestable”. The president has been accused of receiving $12m […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":14,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[107],"tags":[9828,9829,9830],"yoast_head":"\n