Allies of Senate President Davi Alcolumbre expect him to wait until after Brazil's October election before deciding what to do with impeachment requests against ministers of the Supreme Federal Court, known as STF, Folha de S.Paulo reported on Monday (7). The report comes amid an escalating crisis at the court.
A person close to Alcolumbre told the newspaper he will not give in to pressure from the Bolsonaro movement to remove court members before knowing who the next president will be and who the 54 newly elected senators will be. Only then will he decide whether to open an impeachment case, and against whom.
In the Senate, the chances of a removal request now succeeding are treated as real even by lawmakers who used to reject the idea, Folha reports. Alcolumbre's calculation involves his own race: senators elect their president on the first working day of the new Congress, in February, and allies see the impeachment of Justice Alexandre de Moraes as the only bargaining chip able to win bolsonarista votes for his reelection. In Brazil, the Senate is the chamber that tries impeachments.
Alcolumbre is a friend of Moraes and has always opposed removing him. People close to him say that position has not changed. Part of his circle concedes, though, that depending on the profile of the senators elected, it may be hard to stop a case from being opened.
Opposition pressure
The opposition is pressing for action. At a news conference on September 2, the PL party leader in the Senate, Carlos Portinho (PL-RJ), said his group of 32 senators will pressure Alcolumbre daily. "For us senators who already have the majority and the support for impeachment, our job is not only to ask for his resignation but to start the impeachment process," he said.
The requests gained force after reports on Moraes's ties to banker Daniel Vorcaro of Banco Master fueled the crisis at the court. "More and more keeps coming out. Many did not believe us when we said there was a capture of powers by the STF minister," Portinho said. He ruled out, for now, a general obstruction of Senate votes and raised the possibility that a new Senate president, chosen by the majority that emerges from the ballot, could take over the process next year.
According to Folha, impeaching Moraes became one of the main causes of allies of former president Jair Bolsonaro (PL) after his conviction for attempting a coup. The first round of the election is set for October 4 and renews 54 of the Senate's 81 seats. The new Congress takes office in February, when senators choose their president. Until then, the decision to open, or not open, a case rests with Alcolumbre.