Trial that could annul Rousseff and Temer's 2014 re-election begins

The trial on the suit seeking to annul the ousted president Dilma Rousseff and President Michel Temer's re-election bid in the 2014 presidential race began 9 am Tuesday (April 4) at the Superior Electoral Court (TSE). The lawsuit was filed by the Brazilian Social Democracy Party (PSDB), the party of their main adversary, Aécio Neves. The case has been regarded as the most important trial in the court's history.

The lawsuit was filed in 2014, when the PSDB's Aécio Neves lost the presidential election to Dilma Rousseff and her running mate Michel Temer. Back then, the PSDB made accusations of irregularities around the payments to the printing service providers for Rousseff and Temer's campaign. With Rousseff's impeachment on August 31, 2016, Temer, who was her vice-president, took over as president, but the election dispute filed against them proceeded. Should the case lead to an annulment of their election, Temer will be removed from office, and an interim president will be chosen by Congress to rule the country until the October 2018 presidential election.

Trial

The trial at Brazil's top electoral court will follow the usual proceedings. It may be put on hold if any of the justices asks to examine the case records, or if the defense asks for more time to make its case.

This Tuesday's session will open with the justice in charge of the case, Herman Benjamin, reading the summary of the whole proceeding. Next, the lawyers of former President Dilma Rousseff, President Michel Temer, and the PSDB will each successivelly be called to speak by Chief Justice Gilmar Mendes. After their arguments, the representative of the Electoral Prosecution Service (MPE) will call for the annulment of Rousseff and Temer's election.

After all the arguments have been put forward, the case overseer (Benjamin) will examine the preliminary issues raised by the lawyers, before deciding whether Rousseff and Temer's election should be annulled, and whether Temer's campaign finance should be examined separately from Rousseff's, as requested by his counsel. The case will then proceed to the other justices for a decision.

In case of a ruling to annul Rousseff and Temer's bid, Temer may still retain his political rights, unlike Rousseff, who will face an eight-year election ban because she was the head of the 2014 ticket.

Background

An important event has been a milestone in the case. In late 2014, the TSE began to examine the allegations of wrongdoing over payments to the printing service providers in Rouseff and Temer's re-election campaign. More recently, Justice Herman Benjamin decided to admit evidence from the plea bargaining statements heard from former executives at Odebrecht construction giant who were investigated for corruption in the Car Wash scandal. The whistleblowers said they had made illegal donations to Rousseff and Temer's campaign.

In December 2014, the financial records of then-president Rousseff and vice-president Temer were deemed compliant with reservations by the full bench of the TSE. But the PSDB challenged the ruling, maintaining there were irregularities with Rousseff's campaign disclosures, and accusing her of receiving illegal money from the Car Wash scheme. On that occasion, the court ruled Rousseff's and Temer's campaign finances should be examined as one single piece.

Rousseff denied any wrongdoing, maintaining the entire hiring and service chain had been well-documented and monitored. Temer's defense said his party's (PMDB) campaign finance was completely separate from that of Rousseff's Workers' Party (PT) and he had nothing to do with the alledgedly illegal payments. His counsel denied knowing about any wrongdoing in connection with the services provided to his campaign.

The court

The TSE consists of seven justices—three of them are Supreme Court justices (Gilmar Mendes, Luiz Fux, and Rosa Maria Weber); two are justices from the Superior Court of Justice (STJ) (Herman Benjamin and Napoleão Nunes Maia Filho), and two of them--the jurists Luciana Lóssio and Henrique Neves—will be replaced in the upcoming two months. President Michel Temer has already appointed Admar Gonzaga, the most voted jurist in a three-name list submitted by the Supreme Court, to replace Henrique Neves.

Translated by Mayra Borges