Rousseff faces threat of coalition implosion

RIO DE JANEIRO: Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff could see her coalition disintegrate this week amid a political crisis that threatens to topple her government, as a congressional committee ponders impeachment proceedings against her.

Already the Brazilian bar association has said it will file a new request yesterday to Congress for her impeachment.

But Rousseff’s real troubles begin today, in the capital of Brasilia, when her major coalition partner, the centrist PMDB party, will in all likelihood formalize its break with her government.

The PMDB, which has 69 deputies and is the biggest party in Congress, is led by Vice President Michel Temer, who would serve out the rest of Rousseff’s term if she is impeached, until the winner of the 2018 presidential election takes office.

The 75-year-old politician has not done so much as lift a finger to defend the president in recent weeks, even as her impeachment proceedings unfolded against a backdrop of deep recession and mass protests.

Instead, he met last Monday with opposition leader Aecio Neves, who narrowly lost the 2014 election to Rousseff, to discuss the future of the nation.

Since the beginning of March, millions of Brazilians – especially those skewing whiter, wealthier and better- educated, who are clustered in the megacities of Brazil’s southeastern industrial corridor – have marched to demand Rousseff’s ouster. Her backers from the left have held their own demonstrations, with much smaller crowds. — AFP