Rousseff Impeachment Bid Filed as Crisis Hits New Stage

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-10-21/brazil-impeachment-papers-about-to-drop-as-crisis-hits-new-stage

A group of high-profile lawyers filed a request on Wednesday to impeach President Dilma Rousseff, bringing closer a decision on her political survival as months of uncertainty have paralyzed Congress, rattled financial markets and deepened an economic slump.

Lower house President Eduardo Cunha, a vocal critic of Rousseff who himself faces corruption allegations, pledged no bias in deciding whether to accept the plea that alleges she manipulated budget accounts in 2014 and this year. Accepting the petition could take days or weeks and would trigger a protracted legal process that could eventually force the president from office.


For the second time in Brazil’s 30-year-old democracy, the country is embroiled in a presidential impeachment frenzy that has exacerbated economic woes. The latest request will test the resolve of Cunha and the opposition to try to oust the least popular president in Brazil’s modern history. While the outcome of the impeachment effort is far from clear, economists and investors agree: The political stalemate needs to be resolved -- and quickly.

Without stability in the capital, they say, Latin America’s biggest country will struggle to shore up its soaring budget deficit, win back investors and rebound from what’s projected to be the longest recession since the Great Depression. Brazilian markets fell, with the real trading 1.2 percent to 3.9545 per dollar as the benchmark Ibovespa stock index dropped 0.4 percent to 46,912.34.