Friday, July 28, 2017 Red card or red faces? As widely forecast, the Chamber of Deputies fell short of the two-thirds majority required to expel Julio De Vido from its ranks this week. Expelling a member who has yet to be convicted (he faces trial on three counts) would be a dangerous precedent which could threaten democracy. De Vido might be an easy target but if the vote total is all that matters, this could become a dangerous and extremely arbitrary precedent for excluding parliamentary minorities. The doubts here lie not with “Duvidoso” (reportedly the ex-minister’s nickname in Brazil) but with what matters most to the Macri government — institutional integrity or electoral opportunism?

Source: Bueno Aires Herald July 28, 2017 16:52 UTC