BRASILIA, Aug. 2 (Xinhua) -- The Brazilian Chamber of Deputies has voted to dismiss the corruption charges against President Michel Temer.
In Wednesday's vote, government allies in the Chamber received more than one third of votes, or 172 out of 512, the threshold to dismiss the charges.
This means the charges filed against Temer by Prosecutor General Rodrigo Janot, the first case against a sitting president, will be dropped.
While former president Dilma Rousseff was impeached on lesser grounds than Temer, the Chamber is controlled by Temer's Brazilian Democratic Movement Party (PMDB) and its allies.
The vote was delayed in the afternoon as both sides for and against Temer clashed on the Chamber floor. One deputy even threw fake money in the air to satirize Temer and his government's embezzlement.
Another person hoisted two balloons, drawing Temer's image on them.
Chamber Speaker Rodrigo Maia castigated deputies and asked them: "do you think that playing with dolls is a good image for Brazil?"
According to a poll in late July, the president's abysmal approval rating has plunged to just 5 percent. Therefore, it is no surprise to see protesters yelling "Temer Out" outside the Congress.
Temer was charged with passive corruption after executives of meat conglomerate the JBS, admitted paying bribes to the president. They also provided an audio recording in which Temer could seemingly be heard signing off on bribes for public officials.
Prosecutor General Rodrigo Janot has accused Temer of accepting these bribes in order to provide political favors for the JBS.
Temer's special advisor, Rodrigo Loures, was also caught on film receiving a suitcase containing 500,000 reais (160,000 U.S. dollars), which the JBS said was prepared for Temer.