Brazilian president under new political pressure

A political crisis ensnaring Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff seems well on its way to ending her career as she faces new calls for impeachment and the possibility of her ruling party breaking apart.

The Brazilian bar association said it will file a new request on Monday with the congress for Rousseff’s impeachment.

“Impeachment is enshrined in our constitution as a legal remedy for our democracy,” bar association (OAB) President Claudio Lamachia said on Sunday, adding that the decision to file the impeachment request has been endorsed almost unanimously by the bar members.

Lamachia emphasized that it was not a political decision.

The Brazilian president has faced calls for resignation or impeachment from increasingly vocal opponents in recent weeks. Accusations that she doctored government accounts to affect public spending during her 2014 re-election campaign mainly provide ammo for the calls for her ouster.

A graft scandal involving the country’s state oil company Petrobras has also caused trouble for the 68-year-old Brazilian leader, who headed the company before she took office as president back in 2010.

She has also poured oil on the fire by appointing former President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva as her chief of staff. Silva is himself implicated in the Petrobras corruption scandal, and his appointment by Rousseff has been interpreted as an attempt to grant him immunity from prosecution.

Economic hardships have also angered opponents, who accuse her of mismanaging the economy and, at one point, refusing to reveal the depth of a recession that has gripped the country.

Leftist Rousseff has rejected calls for resignation and has branded attempts to remove her through impeachment as “fascist.”

Party implosion

Meanwhile, Rousseff’s major coalition partner, the centrist PMDB Party, is expected to formalize a break with her government.

The PMDB, the largest party in Brazil’s congress, is led by Vice President Michel Temer, who has not only not acted in defense of his boss, but also recently met with an opposition leader to discuss the future of the country in case of a successful impeachment of Rousseff.

Temer would serve out the rest of Rousseff’s presidential term if she is ousted. Presidential elections in 2018 will determine a next president.

Millions of people have recently marched across Brazil to demand the ouster of Rousseff, who denies any wrongdoing. Her supporters have held counter-demonstrations, though reportedly in smaller numbers.

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