The Supreme Court of Brazil rejected early on Friday an injunction filed by the government seeking a stay on the impeachment vote against President Dilma Rousseff that is scheduled for Sunday. Rousseff's attorney general, Jose Eduardo Cardozo, had sought the stay on Thursday citing "procedural flaws."
Rousseff is facing an impeachment vote, which was also backed by a Congressional committee on Tuesday, for using bank loans to cover up budgetary gaps. However, she is not facing graft charges unlike politicians who seek her ouster. Vice President Michel Temer, who is being positioned as the successor if the impeachment goes through, is facing charges in an illegal ethanol-purchasing scheme, the New York Times reported. The president's impeachment vote also comes at a time when Brazil is facing its worst economic crisis and its credit rating has been junked.
If the impeachment vote goes against Rousseff on Sunday, the matter will then be taken up by the Senate which would put her on trial for flouting budget laws. She has also lost ground with her coalition partners as the Progressive Party, the Brazilian Republican Party and the Brazilian Democratic Movement Party left her in the lurch before the parliamentary vote.
MPs supporting her have alleged that she is the victim of a coup, RT reported. To ensure her ouster, at least two-thirds of the parliament — 342 of 513 MPs — need to vote against her, which according to a survey by the newspaper Estado de S.Paulo has already been secured.
Cardozo's injunction in the court is being seen as a last ditch effort to contain the damage even as the Worker's Party, which has been in power for the last 13 years and was pro-poor, is seeing an end to its governance.
However, Rousseff was quoted as saying by the BRICS Post that she would fight "till the last minute."
