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Cunha's threats to shut down Brazil's Chamber of Deputies draw sharp rebuke

Xinhua, April 21, 2016 Adjust font size:

Brazilian Senate President Renan Calheiros on Wednesday lambasted Eduardo Cunha, the Chamber of Deputies president who threatened earlier to paralyze the lower house's legislative agenda until the Senate votes on Rousseff's impeachment, according to daily O Globo.

Calheiros, also a member of the Brazilian Democratic Movement Party (PMDB) like Cunha, said that the paralysis in the Chamber would worsen Brazil's economic situation.

Attorney General Jose Eduardo Cardozo also said Wednesday in a statement in the financial newspaper Valor Economico that Cunha's position "goes against what the society needs.

"While the Chamber has voted for impeachment, the Senate is still deliberating," said Calheiros, warning that Cunha will "prejudice" the Senate's process if he "tries to interfere with" it "directly or indirectly."

There has been division over whether or not the Senate should consider President Rousseff's impeachment. Opponents argued that the process should be accelerated as it was in the lower house. However, Calheiros flatly rejected the possibility.

Brazilian political analysts believe that the Senate will eventually vote to accept an impeachment process against Rousseff in no more than a month, which would force Rousseff to step down for 180 days for the trial to proceed, with Temer taking over as acting president.

The government has said that Cunha's attempt to impeach Rousseff is political revenge against the Workers' Party's support for an ethics investigation into the corruption allegations against Cunha. Endi