RIO DE JANEIRO (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 22nd May, 2020) Seven opposition parties in Brazil and more than 400 organizations sent a joint petition to the Chamber of Deputies, the parliament's lower house, to launch an impeachment process against President Jair Bolsonaro, Gleisi Hoffmann, the leader of the country's main opposition force, the Workers' Party (PT), said on Thursday.
In late April, Hoffmann said that Bolsonaro's divisive response to the coronavirus outbreak in the country was yet another reason to trigger an impeachment process.
In a post on Twitter, the party's leader wrote that on Thursday, more than 400 legal entities, lawyers, individuals and seven political parties sent the first collective request for Bolsonaro's impeachment, as the president "should be stopped," and his government "leads Brazil and most people to tragedy."
According to those who signed the petition, Bolsonaro committed various "misconduct," which is the legal basis necessary to start the process, which ultimately can lead to his removal from power. In particular, the president's "irresponsible" behavior during the pandemic poses a threat to public health, and his inaction only worsens the situation in the country.
For the process to start, the petition should gain two-thirds of the vote during a plenary at the Chamber of Deputies.
Bolsonaro has been criticized for ignoring the World Health Organization's recommendations on how to handle the health crisis and proposing a plan to reopen Brazil's economy after mayors and governors across the country unilaterally imposed quarantines.
So far, Brazil is the worst-affected country in Latin America, with over 290,000 confirmed coronavirus cases and more than 19,000 related deaths.
