Lower Chamber Head Annuls Rousseff Impeachment Vote
Lower Chamber Head Annuls Rousseff Impeachment Vote
The interim president of Brazil's lower house of Congress, Waldir Maranhao | Photo: Reuters
The decision by Waldir Maranhao, means the impeachment process will be sent back to lower house from the Senate for a re-vote.
The interim President of the Brazilian Lower House of Congress Waldir Maranhao signed a decision Monday to invalidate April 17's vote by lawmakers that advanced the current impeachment process against Dilma Rousseff.
Folha de Sao Paulo is also reporting that he is asking for the process against her to include Vice President Michel Temer.
The move by Maranhao comes days after Brazil's Supreme Court suspended the Lower House President Eduardo Cunha accused of corruption.
Maranhao, who was installed as interim head of the lower chamber after the suspension of Cunha, said a number of irregularities during the voting procedure led him to annul the April 17 vote.
The petition to annul the vote was made by the Attorney General of the Union.
According to Maranhao, lawmakers should not have announced their intention to vote one way or another as it constitutes "a clear offense to the wide right to defense that is consecrated in the constitution."
Maranhao also said according to the lower chamber's internal rules, the impeachment vote should have been formalized into a resolution.
“For these reasons, I have annulled the session held on the 15th, 16th, and 17th of April, and determined that a new session will be held to deliberate over the material during five sessions from the date that the process is returned from the Senate to the Lower House,” he wrote, in a press release.
Maranhao added that, “In order for my decision to be carried out, I have sent to this document to the Senate president so that the procedural documents of the impeachment process can be returned to the Lower House.”
Brazilian newspaper Folha reported that the reason behind Maranhao's decision is the interpretation that the congressional vote exceeded the denouncement against Rousseff for budgetary irregularities and included involvement in the state-run oil company Petrobras scandal.
After learning of Maranhao's decision to annul the impeachment process and begin a new one, Rousseff made a public statement saying, “We have before us a hard fight ... full of difficulties ... There will be much struggle and many arguments.”
She insisted that, “this is a coup against many things ... the democracy that we elected the first worker, that we elected the first woman.”
And again she said, “my disposition to fight until the end, is now more true than ever ... we have to defend democarcy, fight against the coup, and fight against all of this process.”
Eduardo Cunha was third in line to become president of Brazil, after Temer, but with his ouster Maranhao is now in position to succeed Temer. This would suggest Maranhao has just made a power move placing himself next in line to become the country's interim head of state.
Lower Chamber Head Annuls Rousseff Impeachment Vote
The interim president of Brazil's lower house of Congress, Waldir Maranhao | Photo: Reuters
The decision by Waldir Maranhao, means the impeachment process will be sent back to lower house from the Senate for a re-vote.
The interim President of the Brazilian Lower House of Congress Waldir Maranhao signed a decision Monday to invalidate April 17's vote by lawmakers that advanced the current impeachment process against Dilma Rousseff.
Folha de Sao Paulo is also reporting that he is asking for the process against her to include Vice President Michel Temer.
The move by Maranhao comes days after Brazil's Supreme Court suspended the Lower House President Eduardo Cunha accused of corruption.
Maranhao, who was installed as interim head of the lower chamber after the suspension of Cunha, said a number of irregularities during the voting procedure led him to annul the April 17 vote.
The petition to annul the vote was made by the Attorney General of the Union.
According to Maranhao, lawmakers should not have announced their intention to vote one way or another as it constitutes "a clear offense to the wide right to defense that is consecrated in the constitution."
Maranhao also said according to the lower chamber's internal rules, the impeachment vote should have been formalized into a resolution.
“For these reasons, I have annulled the session held on the 15th, 16th, and 17th of April, and determined that a new session will be held to deliberate over the material during five sessions from the date that the process is returned from the Senate to the Lower House,” he wrote, in a press release.
Maranhao added that, “In order for my decision to be carried out, I have sent to this document to the Senate president so that the procedural documents of the impeachment process can be returned to the Lower House.”
Brazilian newspaper Folha reported that the reason behind Maranhao's decision is the interpretation that the congressional vote exceeded the denouncement against Rousseff for budgetary irregularities and included involvement in the state-run oil company Petrobras scandal.
After learning of Maranhao's decision to annul the impeachment process and begin a new one, Rousseff made a public statement saying, “We have before us a hard fight ... full of difficulties ... There will be much struggle and many arguments.”
She insisted that, “this is a coup against many things ... the democracy that we elected the first worker, that we elected the first woman.”
And again she said, “my disposition to fight until the end, is now more true than ever ... we have to defend democarcy, fight against the coup, and fight against all of this process.”
Eduardo Cunha was third in line to become president of Brazil, after Temer, but with his ouster Maranhao is now in position to succeed Temer. This would suggest Maranhao has just made a power move placing himself next in line to become the country's interim head of state.
