The Chamber's Constitution and Justice Committee resumes session to discuss charges against Temer.

BRASILIA (Reuters) - The Constitution and Justice Committee (CCJ) of the Chamber of Deputies resumed its session early Tuesday evening to discuss the opinion of Deputy Bonifácio de Andrada (PSDB-MG), which opposes proceeding with the second complaint against President Michel Temer, after a suspension due to the start of the Order of the Day in the House plenary.

The committee session had been interrupted so that the deputies could vote in plenary on the urgency of a bill that gives the Central Bank the power to enter into leniency agreements with banks. The urgency was approved by 232 votes to 80 and, after the approval, the CCJ session was resumed.

Temer's allies followed the strategy to accelerate the discussion phase of the report to the letter. Many of them avoided registering to speak or preferred not to speak. Given this strategy, the list of speakers favorable to the president has already been exhausted, and only opposition parliamentarians are still registered to speak.

The expectation is that Bonifácio's opinion will be voted on between Wednesday afternoon and evening.

The meeting to discuss the report began early Tuesday morning and was interrupted for about 45 minutes in the early afternoon.

Read the previous report from Agência Brasil:

The chairman of the Constitution and Justice Committee (CCJ) of the Chamber of Deputies, Rodrigo Pacheco (PMDB-MG), requested the president of the House, Rodrigo Maia, to extend the committee's discussion and vote on the complaint against President Michel Temer by three more sessions. The request was made as a precautionary measure. According to the rules, the committee only has until midnight tonight (17) to conclude the discussion and voting on the matter.

The Chamber's Internal Regulations establish a deadline of five plenary sessions, starting from the presentation of the defense, for the CCJ (Committee on Constitution and Justice) to conclude its work by voting on the report regarding the accusation, which will then be forwarded to a final vote in the Chamber's plenary session. The defenses of President Temer and Ministers Eliseu Padilha (Chief of Staff) and Moreira Franco (Secretary-General), who were also accused, were presented on October 4th. Since then, Chamber sessions have been held on October 5th, 9th, 10th, 11th, and 17th, which served to count the deadlines.

Concerned about the limited time available to the committee, given that today is the fifth and final session, the president of the CCJ wants to avoid the risk of not being able to vote on the opinion of Deputy Bonifácio de Andrada (PSDB-MG) and of the document being sent directly to a vote in the Chamber's plenary session. The expectation is that more time will be granted to the CCJ, especially considering the significance of the matter.

Even with the granting of more time for the committee to conclude its work, the intention of the government's allied deputies is to conclude the processing of the complaint in the CCJ on the evening of tomorrow (18). And, on Tuesday (24), to vote on the document in the Chamber's plenary. According to the agreements made in the committee for the discussion and voting on the complaint, it was established that all 66 full members of the CCJ and the 66 alternates will be able to speak for up to 15 minutes each. 20 deputies in favor of the government and 20 against will also have the right to speak, each having up to 10 minutes.

Rapporteur Bonifácio de Andrada and the three defense lawyers – the president's lawyer and those of the two ministers – will also have the right to speak for 20 minutes each. These speeches will take place after the discussions have concluded. No motion to close the discussion on the matter will be permitted.

The vote on Andrada's opinion, which opposes authorizing the Supreme Federal Court to open investigations against the president and ministers, will be by roll call. For the opinion to be approved, at least 34 votes are needed, a majority of the members of the CCJ (Committee on Constitution and Justice).

The vote in the Chamber's plenary session will also be nominal, and in order to authorize the initiation of the investigation process, the votes of at least 342 deputies are required, that is, two-thirds of the House.