With the impeachment process against President Dilma Rousseff raising as many questions as it answers, some are urging new elections in Brazil to wipe the slate entirely clean.
Rousseff on Thursday called for a "grand pact" to reunify the country and spark "absolutely necessary political reforms." She gave no details of what she was proposing.
But elsewhere, there are already calls for a radical measure: new elections in October for president, vice president, all 27 state governors and both houses of Congress.
The idea is a popular one among frustrated Brazilians as they discuss the crisis shaking Latin America's biggest country, which has become rudderless just as Brazil sinks deeper into its worst recession for a generation.
It has also been floated by high-profile politicians, including Senate Speaker Renan Calheiros, from the centrist PMDB, and by Marina Silva, who made a surprisingly strong challenge against Rousseff in the 2014 elections.
A constitutional amendment would be required to call snap elections but Calheiros says he could form a committee to explore the question and has aired the possibility of calling a referendum.
"Any scenario must be taken into consideration that could provide an exit" from the crisis, he said Wednesday. "Listening to society would not be a bad idea."
Other ideas being aired are changing the presidential system to one that is closer to a parliamentary one, or calling new presidential elections.
- Tangled tale -
Brazil's political and corruption imbroglio has become so complicated that it's not only unclear whether Rousseff will remain president, but whether the automatic successor, her vice-president-turned-enemy Michel Temer, would last long himself.
She is being impeached on allegations of illegally cooking the government's books to mask the depth of budget shortfalls. But an impeachment request has now also been filed against Temer for the same reasons, even if it is not expected to go anywhere in the near term.
In addition, both Rousseff and Temer face possible ouster in a separate case at the Brazilian electoral court where they are accused of winning re-election in 2014 partly with the help of money originating in a massive embezzlement scheme at state oil company Petrobras.
Against that background, the idea of snap elections doesn't necessarily amount to a simple way out.
"The situation is complex because there are three things happening at once," said Thomaz Pereira, a law professor at the Getulio Vargas Foundation in Rio de Janeiro.
A constitutional amendment, he noted, requires a two-thirds majority in Congress -- just as impeachment does -- and the legislature shows little sign of such unity.
Rousseff on Tuesday kept her cards close to her chest, saying "I won't accept it, and I won't reject it."
But she laced her comment with sarcasm, taunting Congress members to first give up their own mandates "and then come to see me."
- Not Rousseff or Temer -
Rousseff, highly unpopular and unable to pass legislation in Congress, has also warned that changing the status quo in any form will not necessarily be the panacea the opposition claims.
"They think that toppling a legitimately elected government will leave the country peaceful, calm, but that's not going to happen," she said.
"When you break a contract of this size... which has given me 54 million votes, then you break all contracts, you break the democratic structure of the country."
The lower house of Congress is due to vote on April 18. A two-thirds majority would send Rousseff for trial in the Senate, where another two-thirds vote would remove her from office.
Even if a trial starts, she must step aside for a period of up to 180 days, during which she will already be replaced by Temer.
The growing prospect of an unelected Temer presidency is hardly proving appetizing, even to those pushing hard for Rousseff to leave.
Influential daily Folha de Sao Paulo echoed what many Brazilians are thinking when it ran an editorial Sunday, reading "Not Dilma or Temer."
With the impeachment process against President Dilma Rousseff raising as many questions as it answers, some are urging new elections in Brazil to wipe the slate entirely clean.
Rousseff on Thursday called for a “grand pact” to reunify the country and spark “absolutely necessary political reforms.” She gave no details of what she was proposing.
But elsewhere, there are already calls for a radical measure: new elections in October for president, vice president, all 27 state governors and both houses of Congress.
The idea is a popular one among frustrated Brazilians as they discuss the crisis shaking Latin America’s biggest country, which has become rudderless just as Brazil sinks deeper into its worst recession for a generation.
It has also been floated by high-profile politicians, including Senate Speaker Renan Calheiros, from the centrist PMDB, and by Marina Silva, who made a surprisingly strong challenge against Rousseff in the 2014 elections.
A constitutional amendment would be required to call snap elections but Calheiros says he could form a committee to explore the question and has aired the possibility of calling a referendum.
“Any scenario must be taken into consideration that could provide an exit” from the crisis, he said Wednesday. “Listening to society would not be a bad idea.”
Other ideas being aired are changing the presidential system to one that is closer to a parliamentary one, or calling new presidential elections.
– Tangled tale –
Brazil’s political and corruption imbroglio has become so complicated that it’s not only unclear whether Rousseff will remain president, but whether the automatic successor, her vice-president-turned-enemy Michel Temer, would last long himself.
She is being impeached on allegations of illegally cooking the government’s books to mask the depth of budget shortfalls. But an impeachment request has now also been filed against Temer for the same reasons, even if it is not expected to go anywhere in the near term.
In addition, both Rousseff and Temer face possible ouster in a separate case at the Brazilian electoral court where they are accused of winning re-election in 2014 partly with the help of money originating in a massive embezzlement scheme at state oil company Petrobras.
Against that background, the idea of snap elections doesn’t necessarily amount to a simple way out.
“The situation is complex because there are three things happening at once,” said Thomaz Pereira, a law professor at the Getulio Vargas Foundation in Rio de Janeiro.
A constitutional amendment, he noted, requires a two-thirds majority in Congress — just as impeachment does — and the legislature shows little sign of such unity.
Rousseff on Tuesday kept her cards close to her chest, saying “I won’t accept it, and I won’t reject it.”
But she laced her comment with sarcasm, taunting Congress members to first give up their own mandates “and then come to see me.”
– Not Rousseff or Temer –
Rousseff, highly unpopular and unable to pass legislation in Congress, has also warned that changing the status quo in any form will not necessarily be the panacea the opposition claims.
“They think that toppling a legitimately elected government will leave the country peaceful, calm, but that’s not going to happen,” she said.
“When you break a contract of this size… which has given me 54 million votes, then you break all contracts, you break the democratic structure of the country.”
The lower house of Congress is due to vote on April 18. A two-thirds majority would send Rousseff for trial in the Senate, where another two-thirds vote would remove her from office.
Even if a trial starts, she must step aside for a period of up to 180 days, during which she will already be replaced by Temer.
The growing prospect of an unelected Temer presidency is hardly proving appetizing, even to those pushing hard for Rousseff to leave.
Influential daily Folha de Sao Paulo echoed what many Brazilians are thinking when it ran an editorial Sunday, reading “Not Dilma or Temer.”
