Michel Temer

Michel Miguel Elias Temer Lulia (Brazilian Portuguese: [miˈʃɛw miˈɡɛw eˈli.ɐs ˈtemeʁ luˈli.ɐ]; born 23 September 1940) is a Brazilian politician, lawyer, poet and writer who served as the 37th president of Brazil from 2016 to 2019. He took office after the impeachment and removal from office of his predecessor Dilma Rousseff. He had been the 24th vice president since 2011 and acting president since 12 May 2016, when Rousseff's powers and duties were suspended pending an impeachment trial. The Senate's 61–20 vote on 31 August 2016 to remove Rousseff from office meant that Temer succeeded her and served out the remainder of her second term. In his first speech in office, Temer called for a government of "national salvation" and asked for the trust of the Brazilian people. He also signaled his intention to overhaul the pension system and labor laws, and to curb public spending. A 2017 poll showed that Temer's administration had 7% popular approval, with 76% of respondents in favor of his resignation. Despite widespread protests, Temer refused to step down. He did not stand for reelection as president in the 2018 Brazilian general election and was succeeded by Jair Bolsonaro. Born in Tietê, São Paulo, Temer is the son of Nakhoul "Miguel" Elias Temer Lulia and March Barbar Lulia, Maronite Catholic Lebanese immigrants who came to Brazil in 1925. His parents, along with three older siblings, immigrated to Brazil from Btaaboura, a small village in northern Lebanon, to escape famine and instability due to World War I. In Brazil, his parents had five more children, and Temer is the youngest. Temer is not fluent in Arabic, but is able to discern the topic of a conversation in the language. As a child, Temer dreamed of becoming a pianist. However, there were no piano teachers in his city. As a teenager, he wanted to be a writer. After failing chemistry and physics classes in his first year of high school, he gave up the "curso científico", which prioritized hard sciences and math. In 1957, he moved to São Paulo to finish high school in the "curso clássico", composed mainly of subjects in the humanities and languages. In 1959, like his four older brothers he joined the Law School of the University of São Paulo, graduating in 1963. In his freshman year, he became involved with politics by becoming a treasurer of the school's students' union. In 1962, Temer ran for the presidency of the union, but was defeated by 82 votes.