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Brazilian ruling party confident about Rousseff's survival in impeachment process

Xinhua, April 15, 2016 Adjust font size:

President of the Brazilian ruling Workers' Party Rui Falcao said on Thursday his party is confident that the impeachment against President Dilma Rousseff will not pass the voting scheduled for Sunday.

A Brazilian congressional committee recommended impeachment against Rousseff in a vote on Monday, bringing the issue to the full lower house of parliament which will vote on Sunday whether Rousseff should face trial.

Rousseff has described the move as a "coup" orchestrated by Vice President Michel Temer and Chamber of Deputies President Eduardo Cunha. Both are from the Brazilian Democratic Movement Party (PMDB), a former key coalition partner of Rousseff's left-leaning Workers' Party. PMDB quit the coalition on March 29.

Earlier on Thursday, Rousseff's predecessor Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva released a list of 186 representatives who are reportedly committed to voting against Rousseff's impeachment, more than the 172 votes needed for the president to retain her position.

The list also includes the names of 32 senators. The government needs at least 28 members to halt the impeachment process in the Senate.

Although Lula has been working to gather allies for the administration in the past weeks, the government is not expected to halt the impeachment process by a large margin.

For the impeachment proceedings to move forward, 342 of the 513 lawmakers, or 67 percent of them, will have to vote in favor. If not, the proceedings will be shelved. Any abstentions or absences on the voting day will be counted as votes against the impeachment.

The lower house of parliament has been hostile to the Rousseff administration since the president started her second term in January 2015. Endi