Brazil’s vice president surprisingly backs Bolsonaro, criticizes STF Justice Alexandre de Moraes

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – Vice President Hamilton Mourão minimized on Wednesday (8) the possibility of impeachment of President Jair Bolsonaro.

A day after Bolsonaro’s speeches during the September 7 demonstrations, Mourão avoided commenting on the president’s remarks, saying he believed reconciliation between the branches of government could end the crisis.

Despite not talking about the president’s speeches, Mourão said he agrees that the Federal Supreme Court (STF) committed excesses when it opened an inquiry conducted directly by Justice Alexandre de Moraes.

“A judge cannot conduct an inquiry. Everything would be solved if the inquiry were handed over to the Prosecutor General’s office. And that would be it. This would relax all the problems,” said the vice president.

After Tuesday’s speeches, when Bolsonaro warned not to abide by Moraes’ decisions, centrist parties discussed the possibility of initiating impeachment proceedings. According to Mourão, however, the chances of such a measure succeeding are slim.

The vice-president stated that Bolsonaro has a comfortable majority in the Chamber of Deputies to bar an impeachment proceeding, even if the allied base does not have enough numbers to approve major projects.

For the approval of an impeachment trial by the Senate, a simple majority of the Lower House is not enough: 3/5 of the total membership must vote in favor of the process.

“I don’t see that there is a climate for the president’s impeachment, either in the population as a whole or within the Congress itself. I think that our government has a comfortable majority of more than 200 deputies. It is not the majority to approve major projects, but capable of preventing any process from going forward against the president of the Republic,” said Mourão.

Mourão defended that the best way out would be to relax relations between the powers, which have been strained in recent months by the president’s criticism of the Supreme Court, particularly Justices Luis Roberto Barroso and Alexandre de Moraes.

The president even said that he would convene the Council of the Republic this Wednesday in his speech. The convocation, however, did not go ahead. For Mourão, however, the three branches all believe that the crisis has stretched too far.

“We need to relax, there are heads inside that understand that this went beyond what was necessary, and by talking, we can understand each other,” he stated.