The Brazilian Senate has on Thursday voted
overwhelmingly, with 55-22 votes in favour of suspending, President Dilma
Rousseff from office for 180 days and subjecting her to an impeachment trial on
charges of budget irregularities.
A report
from Rio de Janeiro described the 55-22 vote as a crushing defeat for Rousseff,
who has characterised the impeachment proceedings as a parliamentary coup, that
has deepened the political crisis in Latin America's biggest economy.
It said
the Senate would now investigate the allegations against her in the coming
months and then hold another vote, in which a two-thirds majority would be
required to permanently remove her from office.
The
report said the Vice President, Michel Temer, of the centrist Brazilian
Democratic Movement (PMDB), must immediately take over as president in
accordance with the constitution.
“Temer
has been Rousseff's deputy since she took office in 2011, becoming the first
woman to hold the position of president.
“But
their relationship has deteriorated, with Rousseff now referring to him as a
"traitor," and the PMDB withdrawing from the coalition government
last month,” it said.
The
report noted that Temer, who is perceived as more market-friendly, has called
for investor calm.
It said
the vice president promised to trim the number of cabinet positions and make
appointments from across the political spectrum.
It,
however, said Rousseff who is accused of tampering with figures to disguise the
size of Brazil's budget deficit during her 2014 re-election campaign, has
denied any wrongdoing.
It said
further that ahead of the Senate vote, Rousseff had cleared her personal
effects from the presidential office.
Bitter
political rival Eduardo Cunha, who was the president of Brazil's lower house,
launched the process to impeach Rousseff in December.
The
chamber voted in favour of her impeachment in April, sending the issue to the
Senate upper chamber.
Cunha
was suspended last week on allegations that he was obstructing a corruption
investigation against himself.
In a
last-ditch effort to save her presidency, Rousseff appealed to the Supreme
Court on Wednesday to block the Senate vote, arguing that Cunha had abused his
position of power to seek "revenge."
The
court rejected her appeal.
Her
suspension ends 13 years of rule by the leftist Workers' Party (PT), which has
become increasingly unpopular for its handling of the battered economy and its
connection to a massive corruption scandal involving the state-run oil company,
Petrobras.
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