Impeachment proceedings suspended against Rousseff

Impeachment proceedings against Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff have been temporarily suspended after head of the Federal Supreme Court (STF) Luiz Fachin put the brakes on the formation of a special congressional commission to analyse the case against the president.

 Brazil’s economy has been stagnant for over a year due to plunging commodity prices and a major ongoing political scandal centred around the state-run oil company Petrobras. That would result in new revelations involving her ruling Staff’ Party bash (PT). Cunha, who himself faces allegations of corruption, started the impeachment proceedings last week based mostly on an opposition accusation in that the president violated finances laws with accounting tricks employed by her authorities to permit ramped up spending throughout her re-election marketing crusade last yr. …

Rousseff, who has been in office since 2011, has denied wrong-doing and reiterated that “I did nothing wrong”.

The ruling, following a procedural challenge by Brazil’s Communist Party, requires that the members of the committee, in their first iteration reportedly stacked with opponents of President Rousseff, be selected by party leaders and elected in an open vote.

With only 10 percent popularity ratings Rousseff has little political muscle, even if supporters say that the charges against her are far from the level justifying impeachment.

The conservative politician says the charges are politically motivated and has fought fiercely to retain his post.

This year’s plunge in Brazilian stocks is set to resume as investors lose hope that an impeachment of President Dilma Rousseff will lead to a quick economic turnaround and Goldman Sachs warns the country could be headed into a depression.

A third of the lawmakers on the committee that is meant to decide whether Rousseff should be impeached are under investigation by the Supreme Court for corruption, money laundering, electoral fraud and other crimes, according to Congresso em Foco, a prominent Brasilia watchdog group.

“[It] needs two-thirds, or 342, of the votes of the chamber to suspend the president pending a 90-day trial by the Senate”, added the same report.

Temer made headlines earlier this week after media published a leaked letter he wrote Monday to Rousseff, complaining his “ornamental” role. Both released identical, one-sentence comments after the meeting saying they agreed to have a “productive relation”.

The first steps were unfavorable for the president, given that two lists of lawmakers were presented and the full lower house leaned toward what the opposition proposed.

Tribal artists and supporters dance outside the residence of Congress Party President Sonia Gandhi during her birthday celebrations on Wednesday.

The PMDB replaced Leonaro Picciani with Leonardo Quintao, a legislator known for his opposition to Rousseff, signaling the party’s intention to disassociate itself from the president. The turmoil is stirring passions across the South American country of 204 million people, where Rousseff’s Workers’ Party has been in power since 2003 with the help of its often uncomfortable coalition partner, the centrist PMDB.