Maia defeats Cunha/Temer's candidate and becomes the new Speaker of the House.

Federal deputy Rodrigo Maia (DEM/RJ) is the new president of the Chamber; he was elected in the early hours of this Thursday (14) with 285 votes and defeated fellow federal deputy Rogério Rosso (PSD/DF), who was the voting option of 170 parliamentarians; the elected will preside over the House until February 1, 2017; the new president of the Chamber replaces the suspended federal deputy Eduardo Cunha (PMDB), who resigned from the position last week; "We will govern this House together. We will return sovereignty to the plenary," he stated; when the result was declared, the deputies shouted in chorus "Out with Cunha"

July 14, 2016, 03:15 pmUpdated July 04, 2018, 09:29 pm

Federal deputy Rodrigo Maia (DEM/RJ) is the new president of the Chamber; he was elected in the early hours of this Thursday (14) with 285 votes and defeated fellow federal deputy Rogério Rosso (PSD/DF), who was the voting option of 170 parliamentarians; the elected will preside over the House until February 1, 2017; the new president of the Chamber replaces the suspended federal deputy Eduardo Cunha (PMDB), who resigned from the position last week; "We will govern this House together. We will return sovereignty to the plenary," he stated; when the result was declared, the deputies shouted in chorus "Out with Cunha" (Photo: Valter Lima)

247 - Federal deputy Rodrigo Maia (DEM/RJ) is the new president of the Chamber of Deputies. He was elected in the early hours of Thursday (14) with 285 votes and defeated fellow federal deputy Rogério Rosso (PSD/DF), who was the voting option of 170 parliamentarians. The elected president will preside over the House until February 1, 2017, and will assume command of the country if interim president Michel Temer (PMDB) temporarily steps down from his post - for travel, for example. The new president of the Chamber replaces the suspended federal deputy Eduardo Cunha (PMDB), who resigned from the position last week.

Speaking first before the vote, Rodrigo Maia, who obtained 120 votes in the first round, stated that, if elected, he will govern the Chamber as all the deputies do. "We will govern this House together. We will return sovereignty to the plenary. We will end the empire of the leaders. They cannot be the only ones to have the floor. The solution does not lie with any other power, it lies with the Chamber. I call upon everyone, regardless of the result, so that from tomorrow we can, together, turn this page," he affirmed.

He said he was heavily criticized at the beginning for engaging in dialogue with the left. "This plenary has 512 elected representatives, and none of them, none of us, can be excluded. Whoever wants to silence the opposition doesn't want democracy. We want a strong opposition to our government, one that will help us see our mistakes," he said. Maia also asked for the vote and confidence of the representatives, so that "we can, as quickly as possible, overcome the crisis we are experiencing." "Brazil will only overcome its crisis if the Chamber overcomes its crisis," he emphasized.

Next, Rogério Rosso (who won 106 votes in the first round) stated in his speech that "regardless of the political game, the clash, the disputes, the good fight must always prevail." He said he was convinced that Parliament would turn the tide, "that it would confront the major national issues." For him, Parliament has already won. "Democracy has already won, renewal has already won, hope for better days has already won," he concluded.

Read more here Regarding the first-round election.

Here Rodrigo Maia's speech before the first round of voting. And in this link Rogério Rosso's first speech.