Dilma Rousseff’s political future hung in the balance on Wednesday as a congressional report recommended impeachment proceedings move ahead, while the Brazilian president’s biggest ally stopped short of defecting from the government.
The report, drafted by the rapporteur of the lower house committee on impeachment, Jovair Arantes, says there are grounds for the impeachment process to advance. He sided with the main argument behind the request to oust her, saying there is sufficient evidence that Rousseff used illegal financing to mask the size of the budget deficit.
"The accusation fulfills all the legal and political conditions required for its admission,” Congressman Arantes wrote in the report that is published on the committee website. Rousseff says that the charges against her are baseless.
Arantes also said lawmakers could take into account allegations of graft at state-run oil company Petrobras when considering whether to remove the president. Investigators haven’t accused Rousseff of accepting kickbacks in the Petrobras scandal, though they are probing whether her campaign received illegal donations from the scheme. Her Workers’ Party denies the allegations.
Arantes read the 128-page report out loud in the committee session on Wednesday, saying he has tried to remain impartial and is well aware he will be labeled both a hero and villain for his work. The session got off to a tumultuous start, as committee members shouted at each other over procedural issues. Lawmakers on both sides of the aisle brandished signs, with government supporters denouncing what they say is an attempted "coup" and opponents calling for "impeachment now."
While there are still several key steps in the impeachment process, the report could sway some legislators in what appears to be shaping up as a tight vote on the floor. As of Wednesday afternoon, anti-government group VemPraRua said there were 267 votes for and 119 against impeachment in the house. A group of Rousseff allies, including members of her Workers’ Party, said there were 129 votes against the president’s ouster.
Adding Pressure
The committee may extend deliberations into the weekend so it can vote as early as Monday on Arantes’s report. Its recommendation will then go to the full house, which will decide whether there are grounds to oust the president. If 342 of 513 lower house lawmakers back impeachment, the case moves to the Senate.
Adding to pressure on Rousseff, the country’s influential agriculture federation known as CNA came out in support of Rousseff’s removal, saying she was unable to "unite society" in order to revive the economy.
Still, Rousseff gained some respite Wednesday when her biggest ally, the Progressive Party, or PP, said it wouldn’t discuss breaking with the government until the lower house votes on impeachment. Most of the party’s members, which according to the congressional website include 48 lawmakers in the lower house, have indicated they support Rousseff, PP President Ciro Nogueira told reporters Wednesday morning.
The largest party in Congress, the Brazilian Democratic Movement Party, split from the ruling alliance last week, raising concern in the administration that other partners would follow suit. Rousseff so far has been able to prevent her coalition from crumbling any further. Allies say administration officials have promised them key positions in the government in exchange for support.
(Updates with comments from rapporteur in fourth paragraph.)
--With assistance from Robert Jameson To contact the reporters on this story: Arnaldo Galvao in Brasilia Newsroom at agalvao1@bloomberg.net, Mario Sergio Lima in Brasilia Newsroom at mlima11@bloomberg.net, Walter Brandimarte in Rio de Janeiro at wbrandimarte@bloomberg.net. To contact the editors responsible for this story: Vivianne Rodrigues at vrodrigues3@bloomberg.net, Randall Woods, Raymond Colitt
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