Brazil’s President Rousseff faces record low approval ratings

World Today

Brazil’s President Dilma Rousseff’s approval ratings have sunk to a record low while mass rallies are calling for her impeachment. Much of this is tied to the corruption scandal at state-run oil company Petrobras. 

CCTV America’s Lucrecia Franco filed this report from Rio de Janeiro.

Highlights:

  • Protests  calling for President Rousseff’s impeachment were in part sparked by a shrinking economy and a multi-billion dollar corruption scandal at state-run oil giant, Petrobras.
  • Rousseff chaired Petrobas for seven years. Rousseff has not been directly implicated in the scandal.
  • Approval ratings for Rousseff have plunged to 13 percent, the lowest a Brazilian president has seen in more than 20 years. The president responded with an anti-corruption package.
  • Rousseff’s anti-graft plan aims to fight the channeling of bribes from contractors to politicians, most from the governing coalition.
  • The plan includes measures to criminalize slush funds used to pay for election campaigns and to seize assets of people found guilty of corruption.
  • The Datafolha poll showed a full 62 percent of Brazilians rate Rousseff’s presidency as “bad” or “terrible.”
  • More massive protests are being planned for next month as the Petrobras probe digs up more evidence of institutional corruption.
  • Nearly 50 politicians are under investigation in the Petrobras scandal.