Rousseff loses last-ditch move to stop impeachment
BRAS LIA: Brazil’s Supreme Court yesterday rejected a lastditch attempt by President Dilma Rousseff to halt the impeachment process against her, clearing the way for a key vote in Congress.
Justices refused a request for an injunction against proceedings that the government lawyer called ‘Kaf kaesque’ and said amounted to denying Rousseff the opportunity to defend herself against allegations of illegally fudging government budget numbers to boost her reelection chances in 2014.
The 7-3 ruling in an emergency Supreme Court session that began late Thursday and went well past midnight in the capital Brasilia paved the way for Sunday’s vote by the lower house of Congress, which is due to decide whether to send Rousseff to an impeachment trial.
In an atmosphere of maximum drama and tension in Latin America’s largest country and economy, debate in the lower house begins later Friday leading up to the vote on Sunday.
Latest counts of voting intentions in the lower house by major Brazilian newspapers show the pro-impeachment camp either at, or on the verge of, the necessary two-thirds majority.
If the vote passes on Sunday, the Senate will have authority to open a trial against Rousseff.
If the Senate finds her guilty with another two-thirds vote, she would be forced from office. — AFP