Senate Committee Backs Rousseff Impeachment Trial

05/06/2016 - 15h50

On Friday (6) afternoon, the Senate's special committee approved the opening of impeachment proceedings for President Dilma Rousseff.

There were 15 votes in favor of and 5 against the recommendation put forth by Senator Antonio Anastasi (PSDB-MG), who insists there is sufficient evidence to support the president's removal from office and a trial for crimes of responsibility.

The president of the committee, Raimundo Lira (PMDB-PB), did not vote, claiming that he should only be expected to participate in the event of a tie.

The voting took place electronically, but the leaders had the chance to reveal their positions beforehand. "The impeachment is a bitter solution that aims to punish the evil leader with the removal", said Senator Ricardo Ferraço (PSDB-ES), who belongs to the opposition.

PT party member Gleisi Hoffman (PR) countered: those who vote in favor, according to her, are "Constitution putschists".

President Rousseff is accused of modifying, in 2015, supplemental credit decrees without going through Congress, and using federal bank money for Treasury programs, known as "tax pedaling".

Next, the case will head to the Senate plenary next Wednesday (11). A majority vote during the session is necessary in order to approve the recommendation and remove Rousseff from office for up to 180 days.

Until now, 51 of the 81 senators have already declared themselves in favor of opening the impeachment process, according to a Folha survey.

Once the result is confirmed in the plenary, the next step would be the actual impeachment process against Rousseff.

At that point, a minimum of 54 votes will be needed in order to remove her from office definitively - up to now, 41 of these votes have been declared.

Translated by SUGHEY RAMIREZ

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