Profile: Brazil's new president Michel Temer

BRASILIA, Aug. 31, 2016 (Xinhua) -- Michel Temer (C) receives greetings following his swear-in ceremony as President of Brazil in Brasilia, Brazil, Aug. 31, 2016. Temer was sworn in as the new president of Brazil on Wednesday afternoon, after Dilma Rousseff was stripped of the presidency by the Senate in an impeachment trial. (Xinhua/Li Ming)

BRASILIA, Sept. 1 (Xinhua) -- The Brazilian Senate voted on Wednesday to strip Dilma Rousseff of the presidency. Michel Temer, who assumed the interim presidency after Rousseff was suspended in May, was quickly sworn in as president of the country. He will serve until the end of 2018.

Since his interim government took office on May 12 this year, Temer has avoided making drastic changes. The most remarkable measure it took was the appointment of a strong economic team to tackle the country's recession, attract foreign investment and undertake reforms in the taxation and labor sectors.

Facing low levels of popularity, Temer has tried to build links with all political parties at the federal and state levels. He now faces the challenges of strengthening the country's economy and improving relations with different parties.

Temer was born in Tiete in the state of Sao Paulo on Sept. 23, 1940, as a son of a Lebanese immigrant family who moved to Brazil in the 1920s.

The youngest of eight brothers, Temer grew up a devout Christian and was bestowed a doctorate degree of law by the Pontifical Catholic University in San Pablo.

He is one of Brazil's foremost constitutional law experts and author of the books "Constitution and Politics" and "Elements of Constitutional Law." Over 200,000 copies of the latter have been sold.

He began his political career as an advisor to Ataliba Nogueira, the secretary of education of Sao Paulo in the later years of the military dictatorship.

In those years, Temer joined the Brazilian Democratic Movement (PMDB), which was in opposition to the regime and became the country's main centrist party by claiming a number of municipalities.

In 2001, he was elected president of the PMDB and brought the party into the government headed by former President Lula da Silva, in the second mandate of the Workers' Party leader.

He then became vice president to Rousseff in 2011. However, during Rousseff's second presidential term, Temer and Rousseff had a political falling out.

After the impeachment process against Rousseff was initiated, Temer led the PMDB's exit from the government coalition and joined opposition parties.