Brazilian president faces allegations of illegal campaign finance

Latin America

Brazilian President Michel Temer is the subject of a hearing by Brazil’s top electoral court and could be ousted out of office.

The allegations concern illegal campaign funding. It all goes back to the 2014 presidential campaign ticket, which he shared with Dilma Rousseff.

CGTN’s Paulo Cabral reports from Sao Paulo.

The country’s Superior Elections Court began a trial to establish whether the Rousseff-Temer ticket received illegal donations for their 2014 campaign. If they’re found guilty, Temer will also be removed from power. A new president would be chosen indirectly by congress to serve the remainder of this term, until 2018.

Temer’s defense argues that despite being on the same ticket as Rousseff, their campaign donations were treated separately.

However, Luiz Salata, the head of the electoral law committee of Brazil’s Bar Association in Sao Paulo, said both politicians carry the same degree of responsibility.

“I have been following this action since the beginning and there are indications that, in principle, there could be strong evidence of wrong doing. And our Constitution states very clearly that the presidential ticket cannot be split when it comes to accountability,” Salata said.

Tuesday’s hearing lasted less than two hours, and was suspended after the court accepted a defense request for more time to prepare. There’s no indication of how long the trial may last. It could be months. It’s also very unclear what the outcome will be.