International News

BRASMLIA, (APP/AFP) – Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff’s battle to cling to power enters a crucial phase Wednesday as lawmakers hear a motion on whether there are grounds to impeach her.
A congressional committee has wrapped up its preliminary sessions and will now hear lawmaker Jovair Arantes present his recommendation on whether congress should vote to open an impeachment trial. He is expected to make his recommendation to the commission at 1700 GMT.
Brazil’s political crisis rumbled on Tuesday when a Supreme Court judge ordered a new impeachment committee be set up to consider allegations against another top official, Vice President Michel Temer.
Rousseff meanwhile announced she would postpone a looming reshuffle of her cabinet until after the lower house of congress votes on the impeachment proposal.
The crisis has brought the government close to collapse, as it battles a deep recession in the country due to host the Olympics in August.
A long recession and huge corruption scandal have pushed the government to the brink of collapse. This mess was exacerbated last week when Temer’s powerful PMDB party broke away from its coalition with Rousseff.
Abandoned by her main partner, Rousseff is now racing to secure enough votes in Congress to block the lower house from sending her to face impeachment in the Senate.
Rousseff’s chief of staff said last week a reshuffle was imminent. In a country with dozens of political parties, ministerial posts and other
government jobs have become key bargaining chips.
But the leftist leader said Tuesday she would not reshuffle her cabinet before the lower house vote, expected in mid-April.
“We won’t touch anything for now,” she told reporters.
Newspaper O Globo reported that the president’s camp was reluctant to move too soon for fear that supposed new allies could betray her and vote to impeach her anyway.