Brazil’s electoral court will vote late on Tuesday whether to open hearings into allegations President Dilma Rousseff illegally financed her re-election campaign, charges that could provide grounds for her removal from office.
A petition with the court filed by the opposition party PSDB alleges that Rousseff and her Vice-President Michel Temer used more money than reported and received donations from companies involved in a corruption scandal to finance their 2014 re-election campaign. So far, two of the seven court judges have voted in favor of hearing the case and one against.
At stake is one of the biggest threats to Rousseff’s political survival as she struggles to contain fallout from a contracting economy and a wave of corruption probes that have reached the upper echelons of her party, company executives, and allied legislators. If it accepts the case and later rules her campaign used illegal funds, the TSE could call new elections or name runner-up Aecio Neves of the PSDB the winner. Rousseff could appeal a decision before the Supreme Court.
Brazil Energy Insight 
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