Rousseff tells allies she is confident about testifying before Senate

From her official residence at Alvorada Palace, with former president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, her predecessor and ally, by her side, Brazil's suspended President Dilma Rousseff had telephone conversations on Sunday (Aug. 28) with anti-impeachment senators who gathered at Senator Lídice da Mata's apartment in Brasília.

Rousseff said she felt confident and willing to answer the questions senators were going to ask on Monday (29).

“I think we should take the discussion all the way through the end for as long as it takes,” Rousseff told senators, suggesting that the session at Senate could run into the night. She will initially have 30 minutes for her defense arguments on the floor. Then, each of the 40 signed up senators will have five minutes to ask their questions, and Rousseff can take as long as she needs to answer.

Indecisive senators

Senators who oppose impeachment sought to show they were confident that Rousseff could win over votes from indecisive senators. Communist Party of Brazil (PC do B) Senator Vanessa Grazziotin, and Workers' Party (PT) Senator Paulo Paim reckoned there were eight votes that could be reversed to Rousseff's favor, a number that they believed could be raised to as many as 13.

“These votes can be changed,” Grazziotin said. “We can get up to 32 votes [in total against impeachment].”

Another Workers' Party senator, Lindbergh Farias, said both Rousseff and acting President Michel Temer had been talking to senators. In his opinion, Rousseff's speech on Monday could be appealing to the entire society and mark a “turning point” in persuading senators who had not yet disclosed their stance on impeachment, “a speech that can greatly impact public opinion.” He believed that the session on Monday would be “filled with tension, a dramatic point in the country's history.”

Questions

Dilma Rousseff's supporters made a last-ditch attempt to negotiate with interim President Michel Temer's allies to secure that pro- and anti-impeachment senators alternately take turns in asking questions to the suspended president.

Among the first senators signed up to ask questions, there are 12 pro-impeachment senators in a row before any anti-impeachment senators have their turn. “This is disadvantageous both for us and for them, and I believe it could be changed to allow senators with conflicting stances to alternately take turns as usual in parliament,” said Senator Vanessa Grazziotin.

Translated by Mayra Borges