Brazil President gets court win against her removal

Brazil’s Supreme Court ruled that Congress must restart impeachment proceedings against Dilma Rousseff from scratch and overhauled the procedure, in a badly needed win for the embattled President.

In an eight-to-three decision, the judges on Thursday annulled an Opposition-dominated impeachment commission established by secret ballot in the Lower House last week and ordered the procedure be restarted in an open vote.

It also gave the final word on whether to open an impeachment trial to the Senate, where Ms Rousseff has greater support.

Ms Rousseff is accused of fudging the government’s accounts during her re-election campaign in 2014. The 68-year-old leftist maintains the budgeting maneuvers were accepted practice.

Under the court’s ruling, a new commission to decide whether or not to impeach her must now be created in an open vote by the Lower House.

If the commission recommends impeachment, the decision will then pass to the full lower house — and then, the judges ruled, to the Senate.

The march towards the unpopular President’s possible ouster was stalled by her allies in Congress, who say Opposition legislators violated the Constitution in their rush toward impeachment.

They claimed the impeachment commission, packed with Rousseff opponents, illegally insisted on secret votes while picking its members.