Senate commission approves report recommending Rousseff's impeachment

By 14 votes against 5, the Senate's Special Impeachment Commission approved the report drafted by Senator Antonio Anastasia advancing the case and recommending the trial of suspended President Dilma Rousseff. The move marks the end of the proceedings spearheaded by the commission.

The report is slated to be submitted to the Senate's 81-member floor for vote next Tuesday (Aug. 9). The session will be headed by Supreme Court head Justice Ricardo Lewandowski. For the report to be approved, a simple majority of voting lawmakers is required—i.e. a minimum of half the amount of attendees plus one. If senators decide to carry on with the case, Rousseff is to be brought to trial later this month, on a date still to be fixed.

In the final stage of the case, senators will decide whether Dilma Rousseff will be permanently removed from office, which would render her ineligible for eight years.

Tense moments

Before the vote was held, senators and party leaders were given five minutes to defend their stance. Most took the opportunity to justify and announce their vote.

Particularly tense was the moment when Senator Fátima Bezerra, of the Workers' Party (PT), referred to Anastasia's report as “fraudulent.” Commission president Raimundo Lira asked to have the term removed from the shorthand transcription of the session. The decision sparked outrage among PT members.

Senator Lindbergh Farias, also of the PT, accused Lira of censorship.

“This is not censorship; it's balance,” responded Lira, which upheld the decision, pointing out that he made the same decision when other PT members used the same phrase. He went on to note that, during one of the commission meetings, he asked for the word “criminal,” used by Congress members in reference to Rousseff, to be removed from the records.

Translated by Fabrício Ferreira