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IMPEACH: Committee Throws Brazilian President To The Wolves

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JP Carroll National Security & Foreign Affairs Reporter
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Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff faces an impeachment vote Sunday after a day-long debate Monday concluded with a congressional committee recommending the vote.

The committee voted 38 in favor and 27 against ousting the embattled leader. Due to the committee recommendation, the Lower House will vote.

If a two-thirds majority of Brazilian congressmen vote in favor of impeachment, the proceedings will transfer to the Senate. An impeachment trial in the Senate would be managed by the president of the country’s Supreme Court, according to CNN.

The Senate would have to vote twice on impeachment if it wants to rid itself of the left-wing leader. First, the Senate would need to achieve a simple majority and then need a two-thirds majority. To circumvent the outcome of the proceedings, the government “can also challenge the process in the supreme court,” according to The Guardian.

Brazil’s political system is in turmoil ever since the beginning of a wide-ranging investigation into what has become known as the Car Wash Scandal. This investigation was initially focused on corruption within Brazil’s state-owned oil company Petrobras.

As previously reported, Petrobras was involved in handing out inflated contracts to leading construction firms such as Odebrecht — Brazil’s largest construction firm. The head of Odebrecht was tried and convicted as a result of his involvement in the scandal.

Bribes given to top politically appointed Petrobras executives were partially reinvested in the political campaigns of candidates for the left-wing Workers Party. Former Brazilian president Luiz Inacio “Lula” Da Silva, a former union boss and mentor to Rousseff, was detained for questioning in March as a result of the scandal.

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