RIO DE JANEIRO, August 30 /TASS/. The lawyer of Brazil’s suspended President Dilma Rousseff, Jose Eduardo Cardozo, has urged Brazilian senators to vote for snap elections.
"Today, I have read in newspapers that the process of Rousseff’s impeachment is based on "accumulation of her offences". But this kind of thing is usually assessed at elections in which the people has the last say. I am urging you to agree to (Rousseff’s) proposal to hold a referendum in his speech at the Federal Senate (parliament’s upper house). He added that the senators would never forgive themselves for impeaching the president who is innocent.
In her address to the nation and senators on August 16, Rousseff urged the lawmakers to vote against her impeachment and promised to support the idea of holding snap presidential elections in Brazil if she returned to her post.
Even if she returns to power, Rousseff will need the parliament’s consent to announce the general election and the referendum. Most lawmakers, who do not want to lose their mandates ahead of time, are against the plebiscite. On the contrary, the referendum idea is very popular among the population. A sociological survey carried out on order from the National Confederation of Transport early in June, revealed that more than half of Brazilians (50.3%) wanted early presidential elections to be held this year.
The final vote on impeachment of Brazil’s suspended President Dilma Rousseff may be postponed until Wednesday, August 31, Ricardo Lewandowski, Chairman of Brazil’s Supreme Federal Court, said on Tuesday.
He explained that the counsel for the defense and the counsel for the prosecution as well as all the senators wishing to present their arguments on Rousseff’s impeachment were supposed to deliver their speeches in parliament prior to the vote, and that could be the main reason behind the delay.
The Federal Senate is supposed to pass the final decision on Rousseff’s resignation at a session, which began on Tuesday. The debates before the final vote are expected to last for about 17 hours.
Alleged financial fraud during the first months of Rousseff’s second term in office is the impeachment supporters’ chief motive. They are accusing Rousseff of signing several decrees on the allocation of state funds without prior consultations with parliament and delaying payments to state banks. The opposition considers it as an attempt to conceal the budget deficit. Rousseff considers herself to be innocent and has called the impeachment initiative to be political-motivated.