Brazilian senators voted overwhelmingly Thursday to suspend President Dilma Rousseff and put her on trial, an impeachment push driven by mounting frustration at economic woes and revelations of rampant corruption throughout the country’s political elite, reports The Washington Post.
Following all-night debate, 55 of Brazil’s 81 senators voted to open an impeachment trial against Rousseff, the country’s first woman president, far more than the simple majority needed to oust her.
Rousseff will be forced to step aside during the trial — with only a remote chance of returning — but it is unlikely to end the political turmoil that has roiled South America’s largest nation.
Rousseff is accused of improperly using billions of dollars in loans from government banks to patch budget gaps and fund popular social programs. Senators now must decide whether this amounts to a “crime of responsibility” under Brazilian law.
Rousseff’s opponents say she deceived lawmakers and the public about the state of the country’s finances to conceal her mismanagement of the economy. She denies any wrongdoing and insists that her predecessors used the same bookkeeping procedures.
The Brazilian media and others use the term impeachment to describe the push to remove Rousseff. But legal experts say that, in the Brazilian context, a politician is only considered “impeached” if found guilty.
“She has been suspended pending the finalization of the trial,” said David Fleischer, an emeritus professor of political science at the University of Brasilia. “She has not been impeached yet.”
Thursday’s vote, however, was the clearest sign yet of the once-popular Rousseff’s political collapse.
The 55 votes against her exceeded the two-thirds majority that would eventually be needed to permanently remove her once the impeachment trial is over, leaving her with little chance for making a comeback.
But one of the last lawmakers to address the chamber, Sen. Romero Jucá, likened Rousseff’s government to the Titanic.
