Brazil President Dilma Rousseff removed from office by Senate

Source: BBC News:

August 31, 2016 at 16:43

Brazil's Senate has voted to remove President Dilma Rousseff from office for manipulating the budget.

It puts an end to the 13 years in power of her left-wing Workers' Party. Ms Rousseff had denied the charges.

Sixty-one senators voted in favour of her impeachment and 20 against, meeting the two-thirds majority needed to remove her from the presidency.

Michel Temer has been sworn in as president and will serve out Ms Rousseff's term until 1 January 2019.

The centre-right PMDB party politician had been serving as acting president during the impeachment proceedings.

'See you soon'

Ms Rousseff did win one battle on Wednesday - a Senate vote on banning her from public office for eight years failed to pass, meaning she could in theory return to politics.

Pledging to appeal against her impeachment, she told her supporters: "Right now, I will not say goodbye to you. I am certain I can say: 'See you soon.'"

She added: "They have convicted an innocent person and carried out a parliamentary coup."

Venezuela's leftist government reacted to the vote by removing its ambassador and freezing relations with Brazil.

Infographic showing the stages taken to remove Rousseff from office

Ms Rousseff was suspended in May after the Senate voted to go ahead with the impeachment process.

She was accused of moving funds between government budgets, which is illegal under Brazilian law.

Her critics said she was trying to plug deficit holes in popular social programmes to boost her chances of being re-elected for a second term in October 2014.

Ms Rousseff fought the allegations, arguing that her right-wing political rivals had been trying to remove her from office ever since she was re-elected.

Dilma Rousseff

Born in 1947, grew up in an upper middle class household in Belo Horizonte
Her father was Bulgarian immigrant and an ex-communist
Joined left-wing movement against Brazil's military dictatorship which had seized power in 1964
Detained in 1970 and imprisoned for three years
Subjected to torture including electric shocks for her role in the underground resistance
Came to political prominence as the protege of Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, who governed Brazil from 2003 to 2011
Sworn in as Brazil's first female president in 2011
Re-elected to a second term in 2014
Impeached on 31 August 2016

She said that she was being ousted because she had allowed a wide-ranging corruption investigation to go ahead, which resulted in many high-profile politicians being charged.

Analysis by Daniel Gallas, BBC South Americas Business Correspondent

Dilma Rousseff's impeachment trial in the Senate has raised important questions about Brazil's democratic institutions.

Was she ousted for having committed a crime - or was that just a pretext to remove a president who had lost control of the economy and politics?

Her fiscal manoeuvres were thoroughly examined during the sessions, but it was not just that which was on trial.

Her government policies, her U-turn on the economy after the election and corruption in her party were constantly part of the debate.

Also, as the trial unfolded, Michel Temer's interim government started its work reforming the economy and outlining new policies.

Senators - and Brazilians - knew that the question of condemning Ms Rousseff went beyond just deciding technically whether she was guilty or not.

Read Daniel Gallas' analysis in full

But senators who voted in favour of her impeachment said it was Ms Rousseff and the Workers' Party who were corrupt and needed to go.

Brazilians have been divided on the issue, with many expressing their support and loyalty to Ms Rousseff while others have taken part in large demonstrations demanding that she stand down.

A supporter of Dilma Rousseff, her mouth covered with a sticker that reads in Portuguese; — Supporters of Ms Rousseff have held protests against acting president Michel Temer

A pro-impeachment demonstrator holds a cardboard coffin painted with the name of Dilma Rousseff during a protest in front of the National Congress, in Brasilia, Brazil, August 30, 2016 — But there have also been marches by critics of Ms Rousseff, who claim her government is dead

Mr Temer, who will govern until 1 January 2019, has promised to boost Brazil's economy, which is going through its longest and deepest recession in the past quarter of a century.

His critics have already warned that he plans to cut many of the popular social programmes introduced by the Workers' Party.