Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff ousted in impeachment vote
< < Go Back
Her former vice president, Michel Temer, took over as interim president. Temer now is scheduled to be confirmed as president in a Wednesday afternoon ceremony for the rest of Rousseff’s term, which ends in December 2018.
Brazil’s Senate ousted Dilma Rousseff as president Wednesday, voting overwhelmingly to impeach the leftist leader in the culmination of a protracted process that has divided the country.
The vote to impeach Rousseff was 61 to 20. Two-thirds of senators — 54 out of 81 — were needed for impeachment to pass.
Senators broke into cheering and applause after the electronic voting was announced and sang the national anthem, concluding a process that was given the go-ahead in December.
But a second vote to strip Rousseff of her political rights for eight years fell well short of the required two-thirds supermajority, as 42 senators voted in favor of the penalty, with 36 opposed and three abstentions. However, a “clean slate” law could preclude her from running for office, though not from taking up a government position.
“Coup-mongers! History won’t forgive you!” Rousseff’s supporters in the Senate chanted after the second vote.
The long-awaited Senate proceedings went ahead Wednesday, senators and Chief Justice Ricardo Lewandowski, who was presiding, debated points of order.
Emotions ran high as senators for and against Rousseff’s removal made emotional speeches.
Rousseff declared her innocence. She and her supporters denounced her impeachment as illegal and undemocratic.
Rousseff was charged with financial irregularities — using government banks to temporarily fund social programs and issuing spending decrees without congressional approval. But many Brazilians saw the proceedings as a ploy by conservatives to oust an unpopular leader.
More From The Washington Post: