Changes at the TSE (Superior Electoral Court) should favor Dilma.

The political core of the Planalto Palace is excited about the possibility of a change in the rapporteur for the investigation against President Dilma Rousseff at the Superior Electoral Court (TSE), before the case is judged. The term of the current general inspector of the Electoral Justice, João Otávio de Noronha, ends at the end of September; the change is viewed favorably by the government, since the next person to occupy the position is Minister Maria Thereza de Assis Moura, who has already requested the dismissal of another electoral investigation against the president that is pending before the electoral court.

July 25, 2015, 13:51 pmUpdated July 04, 2018, 16:55 pm

The political core of the Planalto Palace is excited about the possibility of a change in the rapporteur of the investigation against President Dilma Rousseff at the Superior Electoral Court (TSE), before the case is judged. The term of the current general inspector of the Electoral Justice, João Otávio de Noronha, ends at the end of September; the change is viewed favorably by the government, since the next person to occupy the position is Minister Maria Thereza de Assis Moura, who has already requested the dismissal of another electoral investigation against the president that is pending in the electoral court (Photo: Romulo Faro).

247 - The political core of the Planalto Palace is excited about the possibility of a change in the rapporteur for the investigation into President Dilma Rousseff at the Superior Electoral Court (TSE), before the case is judged. The term of the current general inspector of the Electoral Justice, João Otávio de Noronha, ends at the end of September. The change is viewed favorably by the government, since the next person to occupy the position is Minister Maria Thereza de Assis Moura, who has already requested the dismissal of another electoral investigation against the president that is pending before the electoral court.

Noronha's departure also alters the composition of the plenary. The minister was nominated to the Superior Court of Justice (STJ) by the former president.
Fernando Henrique Cardoso (PSDB) is seen as a jurist more critical of the current government. Noronha's seat in the plenary will be occupied by Minister Herman Benjamin, appointed during the administration of former President Lula, according to a publication in the newspaper O Estado de São Paulo.

Noronha wants to bring the case to the plenary session in the next two months, but a statement from the president of UTC Engenharia, Ricardo Pessoa, is likely to delay the investigation. The PSDB party requested that the Electoral Court collect the contractor's testimony, and the request was authorized by Minister João Otávio de Noronha. Pessoa remained silent on the scheduled date for the hearing due to restrictions imposed by the plea bargain agreement he signed with the Federal Public Prosecutor's Office.

Members of the PSDB party in Congress intend to request authorization from Minister Teori Zavascki, the rapporteur for the Lava Jato case at the Supreme Federal Court, for Pessoa to tell the TSE (Superior Electoral Court) what he knows about Dilma's 2014 campaign, even before the confidentiality of his plea bargain is lifted.

The idea is to prevent the case from being judged without Pessoa's testimony. Members of the PSDB believe that the contractor can prove alleged abuse of political and economic power in the PT's election campaign, which is why the president is the target of the electoral investigation.