| Impeachment of Dilma Rousseff | |
|---|---|
 From top, left to right: Rousseff is announced as the Workers' Party candidate for President; Rousseff is elected President in 2010; President of the Chamber, Eduardo Cunha, announces the opening of an impeachment process in December 2015; Rousseff gives a speech during her second inauguration in January 2015; Rousseff, as suspended President, during her trial in the Senate; Monumental Axis in Brasília at the day of the impeachment voting; Rousseff gives a speech after her removal from office. | |
| Accused | Dilma Rousseff, President of Brazil |
| Proponents | |
| Date | 2 December 2015 – 31 August 2016 (8 months, 4 weeks and 1 day) |
| Outcome | Convicted by the Federal Senate, removed from office |
| Charges | Criminal administrative misconduct, disregarding the Brazilian federal budget |
| Cause |
|
| Congressional votes | |
| Voting in the Chamber of Deputies | |
| Accusation | Vote to open impeachment process |
| Votes in favor | 367 |
| Votes against | 137 |
| Present | 7 |
| Not voting | 2 |
| Result | Approved |
| Voting in the Federal Senate | |
| Accusation | Vote to suspend Rousseff from the presidency |
| Votes in favor | 55 |
| Votes against | 22 |
| Present | 2 |
| Not voting | 1 |
| Result | Rousseff suspended from office; Michel Temer becomes Acting President |
| Accusation | Vote to remove Rousseff from office |
| Votes in favor | 61 "guilty" |
| Votes against | 20 "not guilty" |
| Result | Convicted; Michel Temer becomes President |
| Accusation | Vote to remove political rights |
| Votes in favor | 42 "guilty" |
| Votes against | 36 "not guilty" |
| Present | 3 |
| Result | Acquitted (54 "guilty" votes necessary for a conviction) |
| This article is part of a series on the |
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The impeachment of Dilma Rousseff, the 36th president of Brazil, began on 2 December 2015 with a petition for her impeachment being accepted by Eduardo Cunha, then president of the Chamber of Deputies, and continued into late 2016. Dilma Rousseff, then more than 12 months into her second four-year term, was charged with criminal administrative misconduct and disregard for the federal budget in violation of article 85, items V and VI, of the Constitution of Brazil and the Fiscal Responsibility Law, Article 36.[1][2][3] The petition also accused Rousseff of criminal responsibility for failing to act on the scandal at the Brazilian national petroleum company, Petrobras, on account of allegations uncovered by the Operation Car Wash investigation, and for failing to distance herself from the suspects in that investigation.[4][5]
Rousseff was president of the Petrobras board of directors during the period covered by the investigation, and approved Petrobras' controversial acquisition of the Pasadena Refining System.[5] However, the Petrobras charges were not included in the impeachment because Prosecutor-General Rodrigo Janot, besides declaring that "there was no doubt that Dilma is not corrupt",[6][7] successfully argued that a sitting president could not be investigated while in office for crimes committed prior to election.[8][9]
Rousseff was formally impeached on 17 April 2016. On 12 May, the Senate voted to suspend Rousseff's powers for the duration of the trial, and Vice President Michel Temer became acting president.[10] On 31 August 2016, the Senate removed President Rousseff from office by a 61–20 vote, finding her guilty of breaking Brazil's budget laws; however, she did not receive enough votes from the Senate to be disqualified from her political rights. Accordingly, Temer was sworn in as the 37th president of Brazil.[11][12] Temer was accused by an Odebrecht executive of soliciting campaign donations in 2014 for his party.[13] He faced trial along with Rousseff in the Superior Electoral Court (TSE) in a complaint filed by Aécio Neves, the candidate narrowly defeated by Rousseff in the 2014 presidential runoff, over irregularities in their campaign funds—Rousseff had shared the PT-PMDB coalition ticket with Temer.[14][15]
On 9 June 2017, the court rejected, by a 4–3 vote, the allegations of campaign finance violations by the Rousseff-Temer ticket during the 2014 electoral campaign. As a result of that judgement, President Temer remained in office and both Rousseff and Temer have retained their political rights.[16][17]
- ^ "Constituição da República Federativa do Brasil de 1988" [Constitution of the Federative Republic of Brazil 1988] (in Portuguese). Presidência da República do Brasil. 5 October 1988. Retrieved 9 June 2017.
Art. 85: Acts of the President of the Republic which are counter to the Federal Constitution, and especially with respect to:
. . .
V - probity of the administration;
VI - budgetary law;
. . .
are forbidden. - ^ "Lei Complementar nº 101, de 4 de Maio de 2000" [Supplementary Law n.101 of 4 May 2000] (in Portuguese). Presidência da República do Brasil. 4 May 2000. Retrieved 12 August 2016. Art. 36: Credit operations are forbidden between a state financial institution and the Federal entity which oversees it in the capacity of loan beneficiary.
- ^ "Brazil's Fiscal Responsibility Law and the Quality of Audit Institutions". The Brookings Institution. 2 December 2010. Retrieved 12 March 2021.
- ^ Amorim, Felipe (2 December 2015). "Veja 8 razões a favor e contra o impeachment da presidente Dilma Rousseff" [See 8 reasons for and against the impeachment of President Dilma Rousseff] (in Portuguese). UOL Notícias – Política. Retrieved 13 May 2016.
- ^ a b Helio Bicudo, Miguel Reale Jr, Janaína Paschoal (lawyers) (15 October 2015). "Pedido de impeachment da presidente Dilma Rousseff" [Impeachment request of President Dilma Rousseff] (PDF) (in Portuguese). p. 11. Retrieved 13 May 2016.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) - ^ GGN, Jornal (27 September 2019). ""Não é corrupta": Janot desmente denúncia que ele fez contra Dilma em 2017". GGN (in Brazilian Portuguese). Retrieved 30 September 2019.
- ^ "O moleque do Janot que denunciou Dilma em 2017, agora diz que ela é inocente – Em Cima da Notícia" (in Brazilian Portuguese). Retrieved 30 September 2019.
- ^ "STF arquiva pedido de investigação contra Dilma na compra de Pasadena" [STF archives request for investigation against Dilma on the purchase of Pasadena] (in Portuguese). Portal iG. 4 May 2016. Retrieved 13 June 2016.
- ^ Richter, André (5 May 2016). "Supreme Court dismisses allegations implicating Rousseff over Pasadena deal". Agência Brasil. Retrieved 4 January 2017.
- ^ Cite error: The named reference
BBCwas invoked but never defined (see the help page). - ^ Shoichet, Catherine E.; McKirdy, Euan (31 August 2016). "Brazil's Senate ousts Rousseff in impeachment vote". CNN. Archived from the original on 31 August 2016. Retrieved 31 August 2016.
- ^ "Brazil impeachment: Key questions". BBC News. 31 August 2016. Retrieved 4 January 2017.
- ^ Phillips, Dom (12 December 2016). "Brazil president Michel Temer accused of soliciting millions in illegal donations". The Guardian. Retrieved 28 April 2017.
- ^ "Brazil court delays ruling in case that could unseat President Temer". Reuters. 4 April 2017.
- ^ Brandão, Marcelo (6 April 2017). "Ruling on Rousseff and Temer's 2014 campaign funding possible by June". Agência Brasil. Retrieved 16 April 2017.
- ^ Dias, Marina; Mattoso, Camila; Casado, Leticia; Boldrini, Angela (9 June 2017). "Por 4 a 3, TSE absolve chapa de 2014 e livra Temer de cassação" [By 4 [votes] to 3, TSE absolves the 2014 ticket and frees Temer from cassation]. Folha de S.Paulo (in Portuguese).
- ^ "Brazil's Michel Temer gets big victory in electoral court ruling". The Argus. Press Association. 9 June 2017.