Brazil's Senate speaker acquitted in impeachment process

The Brazilian Senate acquitted Speaker Sen. Renan Calheiros in the impeachment process on Wednesday. Forty senators voted for the acquittal, while 35 voted for the impeachment and six senators abstained from voting. Calheiros faced charges of favoring a building company in public bidding processes for government projects. The scandal was unveiled in May, when he was related to a lobbyist hired by developer Mendes Junior, who allegedly paid the alimony destined to Calheiros' three-year-old daughter. The charges generated investigations in the Senate's Disciplinary Council, which ended up indicating the Speaker's impeachment. However, the plenary assembly decided for his acquittal on Wednesday. Calheiros, a member of the Brazilian Democratic Movement Party (PMDB), which supports President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva's government, will now have to face oppositionists that amount to practically half of the number of Brazilian senators (81). Sen. Demostenes Torres, of the opposition's Democrats' Party (DEM), analyzed the result as "weakening" to the Senate as a whole. "It is not only Renan Calheiros' Calvary anymore. It is the Senate's too," stressed Torres. PMDB Sen. Almeida Lima, on the other hand, pointed out that the media is waging a campaign against Calheiros. Due to an eventual influence that the local press could have on the voting, the session was exceptionally secret, as only the senators were admitted in the plenary assembly, and the votes were also kept secret. A group of federal deputies got a court injunction to attend the session as spectators. The Senate's security guards tried to prevent them from getting into the plenary. Two deputies fist fought the guards, and another one was injured in the incident. Later, the congressmen were admitted in the session. Calheiros will still be investigated at the Disciplinary Council in two other cases. He was charged with favoring local beverages company Schincariol in the voting of a matter. He is also being investigated for using other people's names in the certificates of ownership of a TV/radio broadcasting group in the state of Alagoas, in the northeast of Brazil. In the point of view of Sen. Alvaro Dias, of opposition's Brazilian Social Democracy Party (PSDB), the Speaker's acquittal diminished the importance of the two other investigations against him.