Impeachment Vote Consumes Brazil -- On the Scene

(ATR) The lower house of the Brazilian Federal Government voted on April 17 to authorize the impeachment process against President Dilma Rousseff.

Before the vote was completed, the Worker's Party conceded defeat on the vote, but told local media that they will continue to fight the charges. A total of 367 deputies voted for impeachment, more than the requisite 342 votes needed to secure a two-thirds majority. Only 137 deputies voted against impeachment, while 7 deputies abstained and 2 deputies were not present for the vote.

The proceedings will now be transferred to the upper house of the Federal Government, where an impeachment committee will look into the charges against Rousseff and vote whether or not to accept the lower house vote. If the committee votes yes, Rousseff will legally be required to step down for 180 days during which an investigation will be conducted by the upper house. After the investigation, if two thirds of senators vote to convict Rousseff, she will be removed from office.

Ahead of the vote Rio de Janeiro saw two protests showing both sides of the issue. Early in the day, a pro-democracy rally was held on Copacabana beach to protest the impeachment proceedings. After the first rally wrapped up, a pro-impeachment rally was held on Copacabana beach with large television screens to watch the impeachment vote.

The pro-democracy rally centered on the misrepresentation of the situation in Brasilia by the country’s media, especially the country’s largest media corporationRedeGlobo, and appealed for voters to not impeach Rousseff on ethical grounds. Protesters chanted "Não vai ter golpe," which translates to "There won’t be a coup," expressing their disdain with the impeachment process.

At the pro-impeachment rallies demonstrators changed "Fora Dilma! Fora PT," which means "Dilma, out! Worker’s Party, out!" Both rallies were peaceful and expressed an almost party-like atmosphere, but authorities were keen to keep them separate to ensure no clashes broke out.

Protesters interviewed by Around the Rings at both rallies mentioned how they believed the Olympic Games in four months would not be affected by the impeachment vote.

Marcelo Oliveira Souza, a pro-impeachment demonstrator, told ATR that the Olympics exist separately from the impeachment process. He expressed that the Games coming to Rio de Janeiro cost more money than was expected, but believed the impeachment vote was a "fight to save the health of the country," and unrelated to the Games.

Marcello Escamargo, a mechanical engineer at the pro-democracy rally, offered a similar opinion to Souza in that the Games would not be affected by the political crisis, but that would be done intentionally to protect the interests from Globo and the government fighting to get in power.

"Too many interests are at the back of the Olympic Games, probably nothing will happen as nothing happened during the World Cup," Escamargo added to ATR. "The main broadcast TV is supporting the Olympic Games and they are investing in this. If the impeachment passed they will try to show that everything is harmonized."

The IOC and Rio 2016 organizing committee are taking a wait-and-see approach with the political situation in Brasilia. Rio 2016 Coordination Commission chair Nawal El Moutawakel said on April 13, that the IOC is monitoring the situation, but is "non-political and will move forward with works." El Moutawakel’s statement was in line with what other coordination commission members said to ATR during the body’s tenth and final visit to Rio on April 11-13. Last month, a source with the Brazilian Sports Ministry told ATR that any shakeup the ministry experienced from the political crisis would not affect the Games in any capacity.

IOC member Richard Peterkin, who was following the events in Brasilia live, told ATR he remained confident that Brazil would stage a successful Games in four months.

"I remain optimistic," Peterkin said. "The Brazilians are emotional but resilient people. This too will pass before the Games."

If the upper house commission confirms the vote from the lower house, vice-president Michel Temer will serve as acting President during Rousseff’s absence. Temer will be joined by speaker of the lower house Eduardo Cunha as acting vice-president.

Both politicians have been under investigation for corruption, which protesters from both rallies were quick to point out. Even if Rousseff were to be removed from office, it is unclear if Temer would face similar impeachment charges. Rousseff is accused of manipulating government accounting records to aid her reelection in 2014, breaking fiscal law, but those records were signed off by Temer.

"I think that probably we are dominated in general by a congress [lower house] that does not represent us, it does not represent the population in general," Escamargo added to ATR. "Nowadays in congress we have politics that represent companies. To achieve a seat in Brasilia you must have much money to run."

Manuel Viera, a pro-impeachment protester who comes from the Northeast state of Pernambuco, told ATR that he was "sad about the level of corruption," in Brasilia. He said he was not supporting impeachment to support a Temer government, but to protest the endemic corruption the Worker’s Party has fostered in the government.

"There is a lot of corruption now with [the Worker’s Party], and me and all my family are against this corruption," Anna Christina Rodriguez, a securities broker at the pro-impeachment rally, told ATR. "All people are against the corruption. The impeachment is the way that we protest against the corruption in the government. I don’t think Temer will stay in the government for a long time, I think everybody will put the pressure on him."

Written by Aaron Bauer in Rio de Janeiro

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