Brazil’s senate voted to oust Dilma Rousseff from the presidency on Wednesday, following an impeachment process with her suspend from the office since May. Sixty-one senators, seven more than the two-thirds needed, backed her removal from office, confirming interim president Michel Temer as the country’s leader.She was found guilty of moving funds between government budgets, which is illegal under Brazilian law. The amount of about $72.5 billion debt will be inherited from Mrs.Rousseff governing. Mrs. Rousseff denied having done anything illegal and said that moving money between budgets was common practice among her predecessors in office. Moreover, on Monday the 5th she is going try to defend her position and Senate decision.
Mrs Rousseff alleged that the impeachment proceedings were tantamount to a coup d'etat against her. She said the proceedings were being used by her enemies to remove her from office without having to wait for the next presidential election. Rousseff was defiant after being ousted. “They think they’ve defeated us, but they’re wrong,” she said from her official residency, her voice cracking and eyes moist with emotion. “I know we will all fight.”
The impeachment process of Rousseff, a former leftist guerrilla and the first female president of Brazil, has paralysed Brazilian politics since the start of the year, deepening a crisis set off by an inability to deal with a crisis and bribery scandal at state-led oil company Petrobras.A final verdict could come at the end of August and will require two-thirds of the votes in the 81-member senate. Media surveys of the senate point to a defeat for the suspended president in that vote.
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