Rousseff to grasp last opportunity as impeachment trial nears

As the Brazilian Senate's final vote on the future of suspended President Dilma Rousseff set for late August approaches, the embattled president hopes to fight all out to survive impeachment.

FINAL VOTE NEARS

The Brazilian Senate ruled on Wednesday that the impeachment trial for Rousseff will last for four sessions on Aug. 25-26 and Aug. 29-30.

The decision was made at a joint meeting between Senate President Renan Calheiros, the Supreme Court's chief justice Ricardo Lewandowski, and leaders of different political parties.

Aug. 25 and 26 will be dedicated to hearing witnesses. This process may continue into the weekend, if needed.

On Aug. 29, Rousseff will appear and provide her testimony while the prosecutors and defense lawyers will present their argument. On Aug. 30, the senators will express their opinions about the case.

Rousseff is accused of seeking to hide public budget deficits through fiscal irregularities, such as delaying loan payments to public banks and ordering additional loans without congressional approval.

Rousseff was temporarily suspended for up to 180 days on May 12 and her vice-president, Michel Temer, took over the presidency on an interim basis.

On Aug. 10, after a lengthy session that lasted over 15 hours, senators voted 59 to 21 to approve the impeachment trial, surpassing the 41 votes needed to open the trial.

The final vote on whether to impeach Rousseff could be held on Aug. 30, if time allows, or the next day. If the Senate votes in favor of impeaching Rousseff, she will be officially ousted from her post.

A two-thirds majority, 54 out of 81 senators, is needed to fully remove her from office.

Should Rousseff be impeached, Temer would complete her mandate until the end of 2018 and she would be ineligible to stand for public office for eight years.

LAST-DITCH EFFORT

A spokesman for Rousseff told AFP that the leader would defend herself in person.

On Aug. 29, Rousseff will have 30 minutes to speak, then face questioning.

Rousseff, a former leftist guerrilla who was imprisoned and tortured under Brazil's military regime in the 1970s, said she was ready for whatever mud her enemies in the Senate might sling.

"I've never been afraid of that. I've endured much worse tension in my life. This is an exercise in democracy," she told the newspaper Folha de Sao Paulo.

Rousseff on Tuesday proposed to hold a plebiscite on calling an early presidential election if she would be restored to power.

In a long letter read out in Brasilia "to the federal Senate and Brazilian people," Rousseff repeated her proposal for the South American country to hold early elections to enable political and electoral reforms which would overcome "the fragmentation of parties, make campaign financing moral...and give more power to the voters."

"The full restoration of democracy requires that the population decide what is the best way to...perfect the Brazilian political and electoral system. It is the only way out of a crisis," said the suspended president.

In the letter, Rousseff reiterated her denial of the accusations, adding that her forced removal from office would amount to "a coup."

"I am innocent," she said. "There is no injustice more devastating than to condemn an innocent person."

Rousseff admitted her administration made mistakes and that she accepted "with humility and determination" "tough criticism" of the errors.

Amid growing discontent at Temer's interim administration, the idea of early elections has been gaining popularity and won 62 percent in a Datafolha poll in July.

However, holding an early election requires a constitutional amendment, and faces opposition from within Rousseff's leftist Workers' Party.

Apart from the impeachment vote, Rousseff is now also facing extra pressure as a Brazilian Federal Supreme Court justice has authorized the opening of an investigation into her alleged obstruction of the course of a sweeping corruption probe, according to a GloboNews report on Tuesday which did not disclose the source of the information.

She is accused of trying to appoint her predecessor Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva to a cabinet post in order to help him avoid prosecution. Lula is also Rousseff's political mentor and the founder of the Workers' Party.

In a statement, Rousseff's aide denied the accusation, saying the investigation against Rousseff and Lula will allow "the truth to prevail."

(APD)