In a session that lasted almost 15 hours, senators early Wednesday indicted her and voted to put Rousseff on trial in what will be the final stage of an impeachment process which began last May.
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Ms. Rousseff’s impeachment trial will cap an effort that started last December, when Brazil’s lower house of Congress accepted a petition to remove her from office. Throughout the impeachment process, Rousseff has maintained that she did nothing wrong and called it a coup. At that time, the Senate voted 55-22 to move forward with the process, meaning the impeachment movement is gaining support and now has the super-majority of votes needed (at least 54) to impeach her.
The result of the vote Wednesday was expected after the Senate in May voted to suspend Rousseff for 180 days.
Rousseff has been accused of spending money without congressional approval and taking out unauthorised loans from state banks to boost the national budget ahead of the 2014 election, when she was re-elected.
Investor expectations that Rousseff will be replaced by the more business-friendly Temer have strengthened Brazil’s currency and driven up shares on the Sao Paulo stock market by more than 30 per cent since January, placing them among the world’s best performing assets.
If she is finally impeached later this month, he will serve as president for the remainder of her mandate.
Critics have blamed Rousseff for an economic recession that could be the country’s worst since the 1930s.
Her allies in the Workers’ Party have pointed out that numerous members of the Brazilian congress who have accused her are implicated in corruption cases themselves.
“The cards are marked in this game”.
“To add insult to injury”, he said, “they have been trying to silence people in the stadium and have been trying to prevent them from protesting or holding very simple signs saying ‘Temer Out, ‘ in an affront to free speech and democracy while shredding the Brazilian constitution to pieces”, said the analyst. In several interviews, she has said she would be open to a plebiscite.
Some say that whatever the legal reasons for impeaching her, she should not be allowed to return to office for the good of the nation. She lost Wednesday’s vote (59 to 21) by an even wider margin than the impeachment ballot (55 to 22), both of which required a majority.
Temer, who is also under investigation for corruption, was severely criticized for initially appointing an all white male Cabinet.
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Her supporters argued that Rousseff is being ousted by politicians who are in many cases being investigated for corruption and do not have a moral leg to stand on.
