With the protocol of the request, the legal deadline for calling the extraordinary meeting of the Deliberative Council began. If Olten does not make the call within 30 days, the responsibility passes to the vice-president of the Council, João Farias Júnior, who will have 15 days to call the call. In the event of a new omission, the call may be made by the counselor who signed the request with the longest association with São Paulo.
The suggested date for the Advisory Council meeting is January 12, still pending official confirmation. The meeting should take place just over a week before the deadline for Olten to call an extraordinary meeting of the Deliberative Council, which will be used to present Casares’ defense and continue processing the removal request.
The accusations that support the request involve alleged budget mismanagement, sale of athletes for prices considered below market and irregular use of boxes. The Advisory Council, contrary to what has been speculated, does not have direct power to interfere or veto the impeachment process. Its function is simply to issue an opinion, which will be taken into consideration in the discussion of the Deliberative Council.
For impeachment to be approved by the Deliberative Council, a qualified majority of two-thirds of the votes is required — the equivalent of 171 votes among the 255 councilors. If this quorum is reached, Julio Casares will be provisionally removed from the presidency of São Paulo. In this case, vice-president Harry Massis Júnior, an 80-year-old businessman, would take over the chair.
After the Council’s decision, a General Assembly of members must be called within 30 days to ratify or not the removal. In this process, approval depends only on a simple majority of votes.
Casares tries to regain prestige
Amid the turbulent political process, Casares scheduled meetings with the six political groups that make up the São Paulo “Coalition”. In the first week of January, the president of São Paulo should meet with the groups MSP (Movimento São Paulo FC), Legião Tricolor, Semper Tricolor, Participação, Força Tricolor and Vanguarda Tricolor.
