Rousseff’s scheduled appearance during her impeachment trial is the culmination of a fight going back to late a year ago, when opponents in Congress presented a measure to remove her from office.
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At rallies and meetings with her supporters over the past three months, Ms. Rousseff has promised that, if she were to survive the impeachment trial, she would hold a referendum on whether to call a new election.
One Rousseff ally reportedly questioned the moral authority of the Senate, prompting the row which Senate President Renan Calheiros called “a demonstration of infinite stupidity”.
This senate “is a madhouse!”
Dilma Rousseff who is expected to appear before the senate next week, is accused of seeking to hide public budget deficits through fiscal irregularities, and ordering additional loans without congressional approval.
The Senate finished questioning witnesses Saturday night in a rare weekend session, after opening the trial on Thursday.
After studying economics, Rousseff served as mining and energy secretary for the state of Rio Grande do Sul in the 1980s, earning a reputation for taking her responsibilities seriously.
Millions of people voted for Rousseff’s Workers’ Party (PT) in the past four elections.
“Once again there is an act that by a unusual coincidence occurs at a politically important moment for the country”, he told a news conference in Sao Paulo. He was unpopular when he took the interim office, and Brazilians’ view of him has not improved in the intervening months, according to polls that say only 11 per cent approve of him – but they appear willing to live with him as the price of an end to the political turmoil that has roiled the country for almost a year.
Adding to the drama, Lula was planning to travel from his home city of Sao Paulo to Brasilia to support Rousseff when she confronts her accusers in the Senate on Monday.
Under current plans, a vote would then take place within 48 hours after the senators’ final speeches.
On Monday, embattled President Dilma Rousseff is due to make an appearance in front of lawmakers to argue her case.
However, given the snail’s pace of the trial so far – with the first defense witness finishing only late afternoon Friday – it was not clear whether the schedule would change. Opponents say they will easily reach the needed two-thirds majority – 54 of 81 senators – to remove her from office.
Supporters and opponents of Rousseff shouted insults at each other in a tumultuous session that showed the buildup to a final vote expected on Wednesday morning will be fraught with tension. The latest estimates by opposition senators and major Brazilian newspapers is that the pro-impeachment side is on track to win.
Her vice president, Michel Temer, has been interim president since mid-May, when Rousseff was suspended after Congress decided it would continue the impeachment process that began in the lower house.
The popularity of Brazil’s first female President, a former Marxist guerrilla who was jailed and tortured by the country’s military dictatorship, plummeted after she won reelection by a whisker in 2014.
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The economy shrank 3.8 percent in 2015 and is forecast to drop about 3.3 percent again this year, a historic recession. The economy contracted by 5.6 per cent in the last 12 months, inflation is near 11 per cent and the unemployment rate is above that.
