Senate to decide about putting Brazil President Rousseff on trial this week

This is going to be a busy week for Brazil's senators as they hold their final deliberations on whether to try the impeachment case against President Dilma Rousseff.

On Monday (May 9), Senate President Renan Calheiros will read out a report recommending the case to trial as approved last week by the Senate's special committee on impeachment. Within 48 of the reading, a date must be set for a floor vote. The session to discuss the recommendation approved by the committee begins on Wednesday (11), and an electronic voting is expected to take place on the floor on Thursday (12) to decide if Rousseff goes on trial.

The quorum required for holding the voting session is more than half of the total number of senators (41 out of 81), with an absolute majority (more than half) of the vote required for approval. In case of an approval, President Rousseff will be immediately suspended from office for 180 days, and Vice-President Michel Temer takes over. But if it gets voted down on the floor, the impeachment case will be dropped.

Also as part of this week's agenda, the Senate Committee on Constitution and Justice will deliberate on an ethics committee report calling for the removal of Senator Delcídio do Amaral over parliamentary misconduct. Amaral was recorded in a conversation with the son of Nestor Cerveró, a former Petrobras director implicated in the graft scandal involving the oil company, offering bribes and an escape plan to dissuade Cerveró from g a plea bargaining agreement.

Translated by Mayra Borges

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