Brazil: Senate votes to impeach President Rousseff
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Brazilian Senate President Renan Calheiros (L) talks with fellow lawmakers during a session on the impeachment of President Dilma Rousseff, May 11, 2016.
Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff looks set to relinquish power to her vice-president Michel Temer as the upper house of parliament votes to open an impeachment trial against her.
The Senate on Thursday voted 55 to 22 in favor of opening the trial.
A simple majority of the 81-member senate would have been enough to remove the president from her position for six months.
Rousseff should stand a final trial in the Senate within 180 days. The Senate will have to decide whether to disqualify her for presidency.
If she is removed from office, Temer will retain the presidency until scheduled election in 2018.
Rousseff has condemned the impeachment drive as a coup, pledging to fight on during the trial.
Temer, a center-right politician from the PMDB party, is expected to announce a new government and take over as interim president of South America’s largest country, putting an end to the 13-year rule of the leftist Workers’ Party.
Brazil has been the scene of a major political turmoil over the past months, with embattled Rousseff intensively fighting for her political survival against opposition congressmen.
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