News / Brazil

Brazil’s Rousseff seeks late bid to block impeachment

Thursday, 14 April 2016 6:00 PM [ Last Update: Thursday, 14 April 2016 5:59 PM ]

Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff (AFP photo)

Brazil's President Dilma Rousseff has sought a late court order in order to have an impeachment against her reversed.

Rousseff's attorney general, Jose Eduardo Cardozo, filed the request with the Supreme Court on Thursday in order to obtain an injunction which could halt the controversial motion in the parliament.

Cardozo said the congressional action against Rousseff has “gone beyond the original limits of the case accepted by the speaker of the house.”

“Evidence unrelated to the case has been included in the process, such as matters related to President Dilma (Rousseff)'s previous term,” Cardozo said.

He said the impeachment drive is “a truly kafkaesque process in which the accused is unable to know precisely what he is accused of or why,” adding, “The process is violating President Dilma Rousseff's right to defense.”

The impeachment vote in the lower house Chamber of Deputies is planned for Sunday. The opposition lawmakers accuse Rousseff’s government of violating fiscal rules. The pro-impeachment camp needs 342 votes, or two-thirds of the 513 votes in the chamber, to send the proceedings to the Senate for a possible trial.

Reports said the embattled Rousseff was still struggling to collect enough support to defeat the impeachment. Rousseff has denied allegations against her as politically motivated, vowing not to back down. However, she repeated on Thursday an offer to forge a political compromise with opponents if she survives the vote.

Scores of lawmakers who formerly supported Rousseff have turned against her, saying they will definitely vote for the impeachment. Some parties have also left Rousseff’s coalition government and joined the PSDB of her vice president Michel Temer.

A presidential source said on Thursday Rousseff held a meeting earlier in the day with ministers and some of the lawmakers still loyal to her. No immediate reports came out of the meeting.

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