The impeachment movement against Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff has plunged the country into a crisis. Rousseff has called the move a conspiracy against her, a sexist drive because she is a woman, and a bid to sabotage democracy, while her opponents argue that they are just following the law and Rousseff is getting what she deserves. (The sexist remark is interesting because Rousseff is Brazil’s first female president) Even if both sides are right, or wrong, the current slugfest doesn’t do the country any good. It has only stoked hatred and intolerance in a country that remains polarized over the issue.
Rousseff is accused of violating a law limiting government spending and the lower house of the National Congress voted against her on Sunday. The case now moves to the Senate where the opposition is expected to win and a trial would start that could last six months. If the opposition plan works, Rousseff would become the first Brazilian leader to be impeached in more than 20 years. There are two curious aspects to the case. First, though she may have violated the law to overspend during her 2014 reelection campaign, Rousseff has not been accused in the far more serious case of corruption linked to the state oil firm Petrobras, which has seen criminal cases slapped on dozens of lawmakers and businessmen. Secondly, those who have accused the president of violation are themselves not very clean and several of them face allegations of wrongdoing. For example, Vice President Michel Temer, who would assume the presidency, has been accused of the same offence as the president, and the lower house speaker Eduardo Cunha, who is second in the presidential line of succession, is charged with receiving millions in bribes and stashing them in Swiss banks. According to a report by Congresso em Foco, a prominent watchdog in Brasilia, more than half the lawmakers who decided her fate on Sunday are under probe for corruption, fraud and electoral malpractices. All this doesn’t nullify the case against Rousseff, but many Brazilians and the international community would want a fair implementation of the law and equal treatment to all citizens.
The crisis is set to worsen in the coming weeks as both sides gird for a fight, further exacerbating the many problems the country is facing. The economy is in a shambles and is going through its worst recession in decades, the health sector is struggling to cope with the outbreak of the mosquito-borne Zika virus and the 2016 Rio Olympic Games, which Brazil is hosting, is around the corner. All these require the collective efforts of all parties and the government.
Perhaps holding a new election would be a better way forward, leaving Brazilians to decide the future course of action.
The impeachment movement against Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff has plunged the country into a crisis. Rousseff has called the move a conspiracy against her, a sexist drive because she is a woman, and a bid to sabotage democracy, while her opponents argue that they are just following the law and Rousseff is getting what she deserves. (The sexist remark is interesting because Rousseff is Brazil’s first female president) Even if both sides are right, or wrong, the current slugfest doesn’t do the country any good. It has only stoked hatred and intolerance in a country that remains polarized over the issue.
Rousseff is accused of violating a law limiting government spending and the lower house of the National Congress voted against her on Sunday. The case now moves to the Senate where the opposition is expected to win and a trial would start that could last six months. If the opposition plan works, Rousseff would become the first Brazilian leader to be impeached in more than 20 years. There are two curious aspects to the case. First, though she may have violated the law to overspend during her 2014 reelection campaign, Rousseff has not been accused in the far more serious case of corruption linked to the state oil firm Petrobras, which has seen criminal cases slapped on dozens of lawmakers and businessmen. Secondly, those who have accused the president of violation are themselves not very clean and several of them face allegations of wrongdoing. For example, Vice President Michel Temer, who would assume the presidency, has been accused of the same offence as the president, and the lower house speaker Eduardo Cunha, who is second in the presidential line of succession, is charged with receiving millions in bribes and stashing them in Swiss banks. According to a report by Congresso em Foco, a prominent watchdog in Brasilia, more than half the lawmakers who decided her fate on Sunday are under probe for corruption, fraud and electoral malpractices. All this doesn’t nullify the case against Rousseff, but many Brazilians and the international community would want a fair implementation of the law and equal treatment to all citizens.
The crisis is set to worsen in the coming weeks as both sides gird for a fight, further exacerbating the many problems the country is facing. The economy is in a shambles and is going through its worst recession in decades, the health sector is struggling to cope with the outbreak of the mosquito-borne Zika virus and the 2016 Rio Olympic Games, which Brazil is hosting, is around the corner. All these require the collective efforts of all parties and the government.
Perhaps holding a new election would be a better way forward, leaving Brazilians to decide the future course of action.
