RIO DE JANEIRO—Lawmakers scuffled on the floor of Brazil’s lower house Tuesday during an attempt to block a vote on forming a commission that will determine if impeachment proceedings against President Dilma Rousseff should go before the full body.
Voting resumed after nearly a half hour of pushing and shoving and the commission was partially filled. The panel so far is dominated by those seeking the president’s ouster based on allegations of fiscal irregularities by her administration using state-run banks to fill budget gaps.
Speaker Eduardo Cunha, Rousseff’s bitter rival, allowed impeachment proceedings to be introduced into the House of Deputies last week.
Chaos broke out on the house floor Tuesday when Cunha called for secret balloting in the creation of the commission and wouldn’t yield the floor to allow deputies to debate before voting. Members of Rousseff’s Workers’ Party physically blocked voting for a while.
