Brazil president to press Supreme Court to stop impeachment

Allies of Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff rallied congressional support for the beleaguered leader Thursday in the hope of thwarting what would be the country’s first presidential impeachment vote in more than 20 years, the Guardian reported.

Brazil’s Federal Accounts Court alleged in October that Rousseff’s government had manipulated its accounts in 2014 to disguise a widening fiscal deficit as she campaigned for re-election. If a two-thirds majority approves, it then goes to the upper house for an impeachment trial, another two-thirds majority there would force Ms Rousseff from office.

There is sharp legal debate about whether Rousseff can face impeachment for an offense committed during her previous term – a matter that’s expected to be taken up by the nation’s Supreme Court as this situation moves forward.

Brazil’s political establishment is already close to paralysis due to an investigation into a massive graft scandal at state-run oil company Petrobras (PETR4.SA).

The impeachment effort comes as Brazil’s economy is expected to contract more than 3.5 percent this year and again be in recession next year.

Rousseff’s reaction was indignation, she said.

PhD Eduardo Svartman Munhoz, a visiting scholar and adjunct professor at the Elliott School of International Affairs at The George Washington University, says “I don’t believe President Rousseff will be removed, there isn’t any evidence yet that she is involved”.

In Rio de Janeiro’s upmarket neighborhood of Copacabana, residents reacted with disdain to Rousseff’s televised address, banging pots and pans in their homes.

Members of Rousseff’s Workers’ Party say the proceedings are retribution by Cunha. Sen. Rousseff was chairwoman of the Petrobras board when a questionable oil refinery purchase was made in 2006. Her opponents insist she should be held accountable.

In the Brazilian Democratic Movement Party (PMDB), for example, with Cunha’s backing, deputies in favor of the impeachment threaten to retaliate against the leader of the bench, Leonardo Picciani (RJ), if he fails to select members of the group for the special commission. “There have never been as many requests to impeach a president as in this administration”.

Rousseff’s chief of staff, Jaques Wagner, said the impeachment request lacked legal basis and that government would appeal to the Supreme Court to overturn the application.

Analysts said the impeachment proceedings will likely make it out of the commission, but seem unlikely to get the needed two-thirds vote in the full house.

When asked how U.S.-Brazil relations will be affected if Rousseff is ousted from office, Munhoz stated, “Such a crisis in Brazil would not only affect relations with the U.S. but in all of South America, if an impeachment happens, but I don’t think it will happen”.

Unemployment and high inflation are expected to worsen in the first half of next year as Brazil’s recession deepens, which will create popular pressure and even street demonstrations to push Congress to impeach Rousseff, he said.

But the simple fact of an impeachment process at a time when Brazil is already in the throes of the Petrobras scandal – which has netted top politicians and business executives – means Rousseff is in danger. But Moody’s Investors Service and Fitch ratings said after markets closed that the process could instead add to political and policy uncertainty, further hurting the economy.