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Brazil Senate debates impeachment of president

The country’s 81 representatives are scheduled to issue their recommendation Wednesday.

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Now it’s in the hands of Brazil’s 81 senators. This measure was taken in order to separate protesters who support Rousseff from those calling for her ouster.

“I am going to fight with all my strength, using all the means at my disposal”, the embattled president said during a women’s conference in Brasilia. If that were to happen, Mr Temer would in theory serve out the remainder of her second term which runs until the end of 2018.

The PT and labor unions have called for a national strike to resist what they call a “coup” against democracy.

There are worries that the tense political situation may spark protests that could turn violent after anti-impeachment protesters blocked roads with burning tires in several cities on Tuesday.

How did we get here? . On Monday, the lower house’s acting Speaker Waldir Maranhao annulled the chamber’s April vote in favor of impeachment, arguing there were irregularities and it had to be re-voted on.

The president is accused of illegally manipulating finances to hide a growing public deficit ahead of her re-election in 2014, which she denies.

The court began considering the appeal on Tuesday, barely 12 hours before the Senate was due to begin its session in the capital Brasilia’s futuristic Congress building.

In addition to the charges of tampering with the budget, Rousseff has also been accused of involvement in a vast corruption scandal involving state oil company Petrobras, as we’ve reported on the blog, but those allegations are not a part of the impeachment proceedings.

The probe has led to the conviction of dozens of the country’s elite, from politicians to the former president of Odebrecht, a major construction firm.

“The expectation for an impeachment vote in the Senate later today is certainly lending a bullish atmosphere to the sugar market”, said Carlos Mera, senior commodity analyst at Rabobank in London.

Brazil’s Senate is set to vote on the impeachment of President Dilma Rousseff on Wednesday.

Brazilian Vice President Michel Temer would temporarily take the reins until November, when the process would return to a special Senate committee. Her staff is negotiating for an additional 15 to 20 personal aides and for access to a plane from the air force, the aide said.

A demonstrator holds a sign that reads in Portuguese “Coup” during a protest against the impeachment of Brazil’s President Dilma Rousseff, in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, Tuesday, May 10, 2016.

In a last-minute move to halt the Senate vote, Brazil’s Attorney General Jose Eduardo Cardozo filed on Tuesday an injunction trying to cancel the impeachment process.

A government worker heading into the presidential palace, the Planalto, said the atmosphere inside was “very sad”. “This decision (referring to impeachment) should be annulled”.

What will be affected by impeachment? .

During Rousseff’s time in office the country has been plagued by allegations of corruption and other political scandals.

The political turmoil also comes just months before the start of the Rio Olympics.

The legality of Rousseff’s imminent removal from office was questioned by the secretary general of the Organization of American States, Luis Almagro, who said he would seek the legal opinion of the Inter-American Human Rights Court.

“What I’ve mostly been doing is shredding paper”, said one palace source.

Rousseff was first elected in 2010 as her popular predecessor and mentor, Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva’s, handpicked successor. The final margin will be closely watched as a barometer of support for her full removal.

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If the case goes to a trial in the Senate, presided over by the head of the Supreme Court, Rousseff’s opponents are confident they can muster the two-thirds of votes needed to unseat the unpopular president.

Annulment in Brazil impeachment drama is reversed