Unlike Halligan, Srinivasan has not even had a committee vote, the procedural first step to getting final floor confirmation.

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July will be filled with the procedural business of appointing a speaker, committee chairmen and so on for the new chamber.

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Its first stop would be the Justice Committee, where it could get mired in all sorts of procedural issues, including the admissibility of the main evidence against Mrs Arroyo: purported recordings of her telephone conversations, made without her knowledge or consent.

ECONOMIST: President Arroyo toughs it out