Rousseff to Face Impeachment in Brazil Congress, Cunha Says
- Arnaldo Galvao, Mario Sergio Lima
- Dec 2, 2015
- 3 min read
Brazil’s President Dilma Rousseff will face impeachment proceedings in Congress, according to lower house speaker Eduardo Cunha.
Cunha told reporters in Brasilia on Wednesday he "profoundly regrets" what’s happening. "May our country overcome this process," he said.
The impeachment process could take months, involving several votes in Congress that ultimately may result in the president’s ouster. Rousseff would challenge any impeachment proceedings in the Supreme Court, according to a government official with direct knowledge of her defense strategy.
The speaker’s decision will put the president’s support in Congress to a test after government and opposition spent months trying to rally lawmakers to their sides. The move also threatens to paralyze Rousseff’s economic agenda as she focuses on saving her political life rather than reviving growth. Her ouster would mark the downfall of the ruling Workers’ Party that won global renown for lifting tens of millions from poverty before becoming ensnared in Brazil’s largest-ever corruption scandal.
Accusations that top members of her party accepted bribes, coupled with surging consumer prices and rising unemployment, have driven Rousseff’s approval rating to record lows. The majority of Brazilians in public opinion polls agreed that Congress should open impeachment proceedings against the president.
Facing Allegations
Cunha himself is facing allegations that he accepted kickbacks and hid the money in overseas accounts. The lower house ethics committee is considering whether to open a probe that could result in his removal from office. His decision came hours after Workers’ Party members on the committee agreed to vote in favor of investigating Cunha. The speaker denies wrongdoing.
The presidential press office didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment. Workers’ Party Congressman Wadih Damous said Cunha’s actions represent an abuse of power, adding lawmakers and society will put a stop to the measures.
Brazil’s biggest exchange-traded fund reversed losses and jumped 1.9 percent in New York trading after the speaker’s announcement.
"It’s going to start to get interesting," said Siobhan Morden, head of Latin America fixed-income strategy at Nomura Holdings Inc. "The positive or negative interpretation depends on how long the process takes."
Backed by Brazil’s leading opposition parties, the impeachment request accuses Rousseff of breaching Brazil’s fiscal responsibility law in 2014 and 2015. The country’s top auditors in October recommended Congress reject her accounts, saying the administration used fiscal maneuvers to hide a budget deficit last year. The government has denied wrongdoing.
Special Committee
The petition accepted by Cunha goes to a special committee made up of all political parties that must issue a recommendation whether impeachment hearings should start.
The lower house then votes on the committee’s report. If two-thirds of the deputies back impeachment, hearings would begin in the Senate. In that case, Rousseff would have to step down and hand over the reins to Vice President Michel Temer. He would remain in power if the Senate impeaches Rousseff or step aside if she is absolved.
Rousseff’s ruling coalition on paper has enough members in Congress to block impeachment hearings from starting in the Senate. Yet members of the alliance frequently dissent from the president. Cunha himself is a member of the largest allied party, though he said in July he would oppose Rousseff and has since orchestrated some of her biggest legislative defeats.
Brazil’s political crisis took a turn for the worse in late November when police arrested the government’s leader in the Senate for allegedly seeking to interfere with investigations into corruption. The surprise upended members of Congress, who postponed voting on a key component of the 2015 budget.
Rousseff would be the second Brazilian leader to face impeachment proceedings.
Former President Fernando Collor de Mello was impeached in December 1992, three months after the lower house approved the start of hearings in the Senate.
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