Senators from the government coalition approved it in Parliament in the face of a strong rejection by the Broad Front.
With votes from the government coalition, it was approved this Tuesday in the Constitution and Codes Commission of the Senate the initiation of a political trial against the mayor of Montevideo, Caroline Cosse. The trial request had been promoted by councilors of the Departmental Board on October 31 of last year, after Cosse refused to respond to some requests for reports that were made to him.
The mayor must now respond in writing, or directly in person before Parliament in a within ten days. The Commission, chaired by Senator National Party (PN), Grace Bianchiapproved the call with 5 affirmative votes out of 9. In addition to Bianchi herself, Carlos Camy, Carmen Asiaín, Guillermo Domenech, and the former Minister of Cattle raisingCarlos Maria Uriarte. They were opposed by the representatives of the broad front (FA), Charles Carrera, Enrique Rubio, Liliam Kechichian, and José Carlos Mahía.
The Commission indicated that “it is resolved to confer a hearing for a period of ten business days, peremptory and non-extendable, so that the Mayor of Montevideo, Eng. Carolina Cosse, Formulate your defenses in relation to the accusation formulated by the Departmental Board from Montevideo. It is voted. 5 in 9. Affirmative”.
On October 7, 2022, the Montevidean opposition councilors had voted in an extraordinary session to initiate a political trial of the mayor for not appearing in person before the Board to provide explanations about “the systematic lack of response to requests for reports made by the mayorsas well as to the reiterations of the same that the Body performs”.
The impeachment trial is “a small-time maneuver,” said Senator Mahía
For his part, Senator Mahía assured that the FA bench voted against the trial for “unfair“, because “in all departmental governments, now and before, the mayors can be represented on the Board”, and described “the actions of the minority” of the same as “a small-time maneuver to generate a political fact”.
Senator Kechichian expressed on her Twitter account that “the Colorado Party, Town meeting, and the PN began the process of impeachment” before which “the FA argued the inadmissibility of the reasons given and voted negatively.” In turn, he remarked that “Equally there are not two thirds of the votes to approve it”.
Source: Ambito
