Brazilian Government Tries to Disarm Possible Maneuvers in the Impeachment Process Against Rousseff

04/08/2016 - 09h55

The strategy to try to disarm possible maneuvers in the impeachment process against President Dilma Rousseff has made the Rousseff administration resort to the Brazilian Supreme Court (STF) to prevent the rules for the voting session from being set by the president of Congress, Eduardo Cunha (PMDB-RJ).

The request by the government aims to make the Supreme Court establish a proceeding for the voting session on the impeachment in a plenary and stop Cunha from setting rules which could influence congressmen to take positions in favor of Rousseff's impeachment.

The federal government defends that the proceeding to be carried out in Rousseff's case should be the same as that adopted during the voting which led to impeachment of former president Fernando Collor de Mello in 1992.

At the time, then-president of Congress, Ibsen Pinheiro, scheduled a voting session on a weekday and congressmen were summoned to vote in alphabetical order.

Cunha intends to schedule the voting session for Sunday, April 17, so that it can occur at the same time as a demonstration to be held in front of the congress and allow more television viewers to watch congressmen vote which could constrain those who are against the impeachment.

Cunha also intends to call congressmen according to their states, beginning with Rio Grande do Sul, whose representatives are mostly in favor of the impeachment and end with northeastern congressmen, who theoretically are mostly supporters of President Rousseff.

Cunha's intentions caused worries among federal government leaders. In the words of one of Rousseff's advisors, in those conditions, there is a risk that "the tides may turn" and government will not be able to obtain even the votes of congressmen who support Rousseff today.

On Thursday, April 7, Cunha said that he will only announce the detailed rules for the final voting session on the day it is scheduled for, but stated that it will not be done in alphabetical order.

Translated by THOMAS MUELLO

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