Government Prepares for Legal Battle if Rousseff's Impeachment Is Approved

03/22/2016 - 08h48

With increasing risk of defeat in the lower house of Congress, President Dilma Rousseff has ordered her legal team to prepare an appeal to the Supreme Court, if a request for her impeachment is approved.

The strategy, which was formulated at the weekend in a meeting between Rousseff and her ministers and advisors, aims to push impeachment proceedings into the courts, given the Planalto Palace's conviction that they "have no legal foundation" and are "legally unsustainable".

The idea is that Workers' Party (PT) congressmen will bring legal measures to the Supreme Court while proceedings remain at the special impeachment commission, which was set up last week. If Rousseff is defeated in Congress, the government will then attempt to block proceedings in the courts.

Whether or not impeachment proceedings go ahead depends on the lower house. At least 342 of 512 votes are required (the speaker does not vote).

At the same time as her maneuvers in the courts, Rousseff also told her allies to strengthen ties in the Senate, in order to prevent a vote for impeachment in the lower house being ratified there. This would lead to her temporary suspension, for 180 days.

In a move led by the ex-president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, who has been brought in to act informally as Chief-of-Staff, the government will increase pressure on Senate president Renan Calheiros (PMDB - Alagoas) and on its allies in the governing coalition - especially the PMDB, its main partner.

President Rousseff's concern with the potential approval of her impeachment increased on Monday (21) following a meeting with the team responsible for negotiating with the government's allies.

Translated by TOM GATEHOUSE

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	Andressa Anholete/AFP
	Demonstrators outside the National Congress protest against President Rousseff and in support of Judge Sergio Moro