Subscribe Login
Jamaica Observer
ePaper
The Edge 105 FM Radio Fyah 105 FM
Jamaica Observer
ePaper
The Edge 105 FM Radio Fyah 105 FM
    • Home
    • News
      • Latest News
      • Cartoon
      • International News
      • Central
      • North & East
      • Western
      • Environment
      • Health
      • #
    • Business
      • Social Love
    • Sports
      • Football
      • Basketball
      • Cricket
      • Horse Racing
      • World Champs
      • Commonwealth Games
      • FIFA World Cup 2022
      • Olympics
      • #
    • Entertainment
      • Music
      • Movies
      • Art & Culture
      • Bookends
      • #
    • Lifestyle
      • Page2
      • Food
      • Tuesday Style
      • Food Awards
      • JOL Takes Style Out
      • Design Week JA
      • Black Friday
      • #
    • All Woman
      • Home
      • Relationships
      • Features
      • Fashion
      • Fitness
      • Rights
      • Parenting
      • Advice
      • #
    • Obituaries
    • Classifieds
      • Employment
      • Property
      • Motor Vehicles
      • Place an Ad
      • Obituaries
    • More
      • Games
      • Elections
      • Jobs & Careers
      • Study Centre
      • Jnr Study Centre
      • Letters
      • Columns
      • Advertorial
      • Editorial
      • Supplements
      • Webinars
    • Home
    • News
      • Latest News
      • Cartoon
      • International News
      • Central
      • North & East
      • Western
      • Environment
      • Health
      • #
    • Business
      • Social Love
    • Sports
      • Football
      • Basketball
      • Cricket
      • Horse Racing
      • World Champs
      • Commonwealth Games
      • FIFA World Cup 2022
      • Olympics
      • #
    • Entertainment
      • Music
      • Movies
      • Art & Culture
      • Bookends
      • #
    • Lifestyle
      • Page2
      • Food
      • Tuesday Style
      • Food Awards
      • JOL Takes Style Out
      • Design Week JA
      • Black Friday
      • #
    • All Woman
      • Home
      • Relationships
      • Features
      • Fashion
      • Fitness
      • Rights
      • Parenting
      • Advice
      • #
    • Obituaries
    • Classifieds
      • Employment
      • Property
      • Motor Vehicles
      • Place an Ad
      • Obituaries
    • More
      • Games
      • Elections
      • Jobs & Careers
      • Study Centre
      • Jnr Study Centre
      • Letters
      • Columns
      • Advertorial
      • Editorial
      • Supplements
      • Webinars
  • Home
  • News
    • International News
  • Latest
  • Business
  • Cartoon
  • Games
  • Food Awards
  • Health
  • Entertainment
    • Bookends
  • Regional
  • Sports
    • Sports
    • World Cup
    • World Champs
    • Olympics
  • All Woman
  • Career & Education
  • Environment
  • Webinars
  • More
    • Football
    • Elections
    • Letters
    • Advertorial
    • Columns
    • Editorial
    • Supplements
  • Epaper
  • Classifieds
  • Design Week
3 parties abandon Brazil president as impeachment vote nears
Brazil's President Dilma Rousseff reacts during a meeting at the Planalto Presidential Palace, in Brasilia, Brazil on Wednesday. (Photo: AFP)
News
April 13, 2016

3 parties abandon Brazil president as impeachment vote nears

RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) — President Dilma Rousseff’s chances of surviving impeachment are growing slimmer now that three parties have decamped from her governing coalition in 24 hours and Brazilian legislators begin preparing for a crucial vote on the question expected this weekend.

The pullouts of the mid-size centrist parties caused despondency among members of Rousseff’ left-leaning Workers’ Party ahead of the vote expected Sunday in the Chamber of Deputies. That vote will determine whether the impeachment process moves ahead based on allegations that Rousseff’s administration violated fiscal rules.

The pro-impeachment camp needs two-thirds of the 513 votes in the lower house, or 342 votes, to send the proceedings to the Senate for a possible trial. According to a tally by the newspaper Folha de S. Paulo, 284 legislators have come out for impeachment, while 114 are opposed and 115 are undecided.

While the outcome is still too close to call, the pullouts by the majority of the 36 deputies for the Social Democratic Party, the Progressive Party with 47 deputies and the Brazilian Republican Party with 22 legislators made it that much harder for Rousseff to defeat the vote.

In a rare bit of positive news for the government, leaders of the Democratic Labor Party pledged to cast their party’s 20 votes against impeachment.

But the loss of three more parties was a blow for the governing coalition, coming about two weeks after the Brazilian Democratic Movement Party, the country’s largest party, also quit. It has 66 deputies in the lower house.

“Ministers close to Dilma believe the battle against impeachment is virtually lost,” Monica Bergamo, a respected political columnist for Folha de S. Paulo, wrote Wednesday. “Not all of them have definitively thrown in the towel, but the consensus is that the government is going through its worst moment.”

Rousseff has seen her approval ratings tumble amid the worst recession in decades, a spike in both joblessness and inflation, and a sprawling probe of corruption at the state-run energy company Petrobras, which over the past two years has ensnared dozens of top politicians across the political spectrum as well as some of Brazil’s richest and most powerful business executives.

The president appeared simultaneously defiant and conciliatory Wednesday, sketching out her plans for “once this page has been turned.” Speaking at an event about the modernization of Brazil’s port infrastructure, she pledged that “starting next week,” her administration would reach out to even its foes in a bid to get the country back on track.

Ricardo Berzoini, Brazil’s political affairs minister and a Rousseff ally, said at a news conference that the government could file a request for the Supreme Court to intervene in the impeachment effort later Wednesday or Thursday.

“We can’t play around with democracy,” he said. Berzoini also said Rousseff is meeting with lawmakers one on one to make her case.

Chamber of Deputies officials announced the order in which votes are to be cast in Sunday’s vote, which is in line with a plan by Speaker Eduardo Cunha, a Rousseff foe who has been the driving force behind impeachment. The vote will begin with representatives from Brazil’s southern states, which tend to be strongly anti-Rousseff, and work up to the largely pro-government states at the end, in an apparent bid to create the impression of an unstoppable wave of support for impeachment.

The newspaper O Globo in Rio de Janeiro said that under that system, the first deputy to vote would be Afonso Hamm, a Progressive Party legislator from the southern Rio Grande do Sul state. Hamm is under investigation by Brazil’s Supreme Court for alleged involvement in the sprawling corruption investigation at the state-run Petrobras oil company.

The impeachment proceedings against her stem from allegations her administration violated fiscal rules to mask budget problems by shifting around government accounts. Opposition parties claim sleight-of-hand accounting moves allowed her to boost public support and say impeachment is in line with the wishes of the majority of Brazilians.

Rousseff and her supporters say the allegations are bogus and insist financial maneuvers like the ones she made are common practice, used by two prior presidents. She has repeatedly denounced the proceedings as an attempted coup and a blatant power grab by her foes.

If the pro-impeachment camp wins Sunday’s vote, the proceedings move to the Senate, where a vote would determine whether to begin a trial against Rousseff. If that happened, she would immediately be suspended from office and Vice President Michel Temer would take over. Temer has also been mentioned in plea bargain testimony in the Petrobras case.

{"website":"website"}{"jamaica-observer":"Jamaica Observer"}
img img
0 Comments · Make a comment

ALSO ON JAMAICA OBSERVER

Trump says US will ‘come to their rescue’ if Iran kills protesters
International News, Latest News
Trump says US will ‘come to their rescue’ if Iran kills protesters
January 2, 2026
PARIS, France (AFP)—United States President Donald Trump said on Friday that the United States was "locked and loaded" to respond if Iran killed prote...
{"jamaica-observer":"Jamaica Observer"}
UN chief calls on Israel to reverse NGOs ban in Gaza
International News, Latest News
UN chief calls on Israel to reverse NGOs ban in Gaza
January 2, 2026
UNITED NATIONS, United States (AFP)—UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres called on Friday for Israel to end a ban on humanitarian agencies that provi...
{"jamaica-observer":"Jamaica Observer"}
Magnitude 5.6 earthquake jolts St Lucia
Latest News, Regional
Magnitude 5.6 earthquake jolts St Lucia
January 2, 2026
CASTRIES, St Lucia (CMC) – An earthquake with a magnitude of 5.6 jolted St Lucia on Friday, but there were no immediate reports of damage or injuries....
{"jamaica-observer":"Jamaica Observer"}
STEAM gifts for children in the west
Latest News, News
STEAM gifts for children in the west
January 2, 2026
ST JAMES, Jamaica—Approximately 1,400 STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts and Mathematics) gifts have been distributed to children in Monteg...
{"jamaica-observer":"Jamaica Observer"}
Errol Wizdom set to release Reggae Dancehall album
Entertainment, Latest News
Errol Wizdom set to release Reggae Dancehall album
January 2, 2026
KINGSTON, Jamaica —For many years, Jamaican artistes who live overseas have returned to their country to work with musicians and engineers to get an a...
{"jamaica-observer":"Jamaica Observer"}
JPS dispatches more vehicles, linesmen
Latest News, News
JPS dispatches more vehicles, linesmen
January 2, 2026
KINGSTON, Jamaica—The Jamaica Public Service (JPS) has commissioned another 270 trucks, other vehicles and equipment along with 470 new linesmen for t...
{"jamaica-observer":"Jamaica Observer"}
UDC fireworks festival signals renewal for Black River
Latest News, News
UDC fireworks festival signals renewal for Black River
January 2, 2026
ST ELIZABETH, Jamaica—General manager of the Urban Development Corporation (UDC), Robert Honeyghan, says the staging of the inaugural fireworks displa...
{"jamaica-observer":"Jamaica Observer"}
Forex: $159.47 to one US dollar
Latest News, News
Forex: $159.47 to one US dollar
January 2, 2026
KINGSTON, Jamaica — The United States (US) dollar on Friday, January 2, ended trading at $159.47, down 26 cents, according to the Bank of Jamaica’s da...
{"jamaica-observer":"Jamaica Observer"}
❮ ❯

Polls

HOUSE RULES

  1. We welcome reader comments on the top stories of the day. Some comments may be republished on the website or in the newspaper; email addresses will not be published.
  2. Please understand that comments are moderated and it is not always possible to publish all that have been submitted. We will, however, try to publish comments that are representative of all received.
  3. We ask that comments are civil and free of libellous or hateful material. Also please stick to the topic under discussion.
  4. Please do not write in block capitals since this makes your comment hard to read.
  5. Please don't use the comments to advertise. However, our advertising department can be more than accommodating if emailed: advertising@jamaicaobserver.com.
  6. If readers wish to report offensive comments, suggest a correction or share a story then please email: community@jamaicaobserver.com.
  7. Lastly, read our Terms and Conditions and Privacy Policy

Recent Posts

Archives

Facebook
Twitter
Instagram
Tweets

Polls

Recent Posts

Archives

Logo Jamaica Observer
Breaking news from the premier Jamaican newspaper, the Jamaica Observer. Follow Jamaican news online for free and stay informed on what's happening in the Caribbean
Featured Tags
  • Editorial
  • Columns
  • Health
  • Auto
  • Business
  • Letters
  • Page2
  • Football
Categories
  • Business
  • Politics
  • Entertainment
  • Page2
  • Business
  • Politics
  • Entertainment
  • Page2
Ads
img
Jamaica Observer, © All Rights Reserved
  • Home
  • Contact Us
  • RSS Feeds
  • Feedback
  • Privacy Policy
  • Editorial Code of Conduct