The President of the Chamber, Hugo Motta (Republicanos-PB), meets this Sunday with the legal service of the Chamber to analyze the decision in which Minister Alexandre de Moraes, of the Supreme Federal Court (STF), annuls the decision of the Chamber preserving the mandate of deputy Carla Zambelli and orders the impeachment, as the Court had previously ordered.
— I have until Monday to make a decision and I need to hear from the legal department about possible measures regarding the deputy — Motta told GLOBO.
Moraes’ decision Thursday set a 48-hour deadline to comply. According to Motta, the deadline ends Monday because it encompasses the weekend. On Friday, the order was unanimously approved by the STF’s first panel.
Even though there is no legal path other than complying with the Supreme Court’s ruling, Motta’s allies view the meeting with the legal team as necessary to provide a political response to the case. In plenary, there were not enough votes to dismiss the parliamentarian. According to GLOBO columnist Malu Gaspar, Motta had promised court ministers that Zambelli would be removed.
The consultation of the legal department would serve in some way to demonstrate to the opposition that the presidency of the House tried to preserve the decision taken in plenary, which acquitted the parliamentarian.
The trend, according to Motta’s allies, is that the impeachment and inauguration of the parliamentary deputy, Adilson Barroso, could be declared.
According to Moraes, the deliberation of the Chamber of Deputies, which rejected the loss of the deputy’s mandate, “took place in flagrant violation” of the Constitution. “This is a VOID ACT, due to obvious unconstitutionality, demonstrating both a lack of respect for the principles of legality, morality and impersonality, as well as a blatant deviation from the objective,” said the Minister of the Supreme Court.
The magistrate concludes by affirming that the Federal Constitution gives the judicial power the power to pronounce the loss of the parliamentary mandate for criminal convictions that have become final and without appeal. In these cases, the judge explained, it is up to the Council of the Chamber to simply declare the loss of the mandate, through a related administrative act, as provided for in the Constitution.
The minister, who is rapporteur of the process which resulted in the conviction of the deputy, also underlined in his decision that the vote of the Chamber contradicted a series of judgments of the STF on the subject, emphasizing that the Court, since the judgment of Criminal Action 470 (the “mensalão”), in 2012, has consolidated the idea according to which parliamentarians found guilty of criminal offenses automatically lose their mandate.
The impeachment comes after the House rejected, in plenary, the loss of Zambelli’s mandate for failing to reach the constitutional quorum of 257 votes. The vote took place Thursday morning.
As O GLOBO showed, STF ministers stated that they considered the decision that maintained Zambelli’s mandate to be “unacceptable” and that they saw it as an attempt to demoralize the Court. Magistrates interviewed privately by GLOBO have already declared that new measures would be adopted by the court.
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