© Alan Marques/Folhapress
© Alan Marques/Folhapress

The speaker of the lower house of congress, Eduardo Cunha (PMDB-RJ), became “outraged” by the split announced by the Brazilian Social Democracy Party (PSDB) on Wednesday (11).

According to his allies, Cunha considered the split an act of “betrayal” by the party, which until now, had functioned as one of his greatest pillars of support.

On Wednesday morning, the PSDB reiterated its request to have Cunha removed from the House Presidency. The decision was followed with promises that the party would no longer participate in meetings held in the Speaker’s official residence.

The party went on to say that it will support Cunha’s removal if he does not provide the Council of Ethics with overwhelming evidence of his innocence, beyond what has already been presented.

Publically, Cunha denied being irritated and defended the right of every party to “position itself however it chooses”, going so far as to refute the fact that the PSDB was his ally and argued that the party supported congressman Júlio Delgado (PSB-MG) in the elections for House Speaker.

“The PSDB didn’t support me in the election. They even had a candidate, Júlio Delgado, who was investigated in the Lava Jato [money laundering] scheme. Every one has a right to position himself as he likes. I’m no one to judge”, he said.

Cunha also claimed Delgado is unable to participate in his impeachment process in the Council of Ethics. The PSDB member belongs to the commission and already voted against him.

One of Cunha’s closest congressman, Paulinho da Força (SD-SP) classified the PSDB movement as a “jump ship” and said it tosses Cunha “in the Workers’ Party’s lap”.