Brazilian MPs Vote To Impeach Their President

The emphatic result means the Senate must now decide whether Dilma Rousseff should be suspended from office and put on trial.

07:05, UK, Monday 18 April 2016

Video: Brazil Split After Impeachment Vote

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MPs in Brazil have overwhelmingly voted for President Dilma Rousseff to face an impeachment trial.

One by one, hundreds of members of the lower house of Congress announced their decision at a microphone - and the lengthy proceedings were watched by millions of demonstrators across the country.
A total of 342 of the 513 members in the chamber - a two-thirds majority - was needed for the vote to pass.
Ms Rousseff's Workers' Party conceded defeat before this threshold was reached, and by the time 342 "Yes" votes had been counted, the pro-impeachment side had a majority of 215 with 38 votes left to be counted.
At this point, 127 had voted against her impeachment, and six lawmakers abstained.

Video: Celebrations As Brazil Vote Passes

Now, Brazil's Senate must decide by a simple majority whether there are legal grounds for a trial to take place over allegations that the country's first female president manipulated government accounts to support her re-election campaign in 2014.
If the Senate agrees a trial should take place, the 68-year-old would be suspended from office and replaced by vice president Michel Turner - likely plunging the South American country further into a political crisis.
Ms Rousseff has denied any wrongdoing, and claims her predecessors have used similar accounting techniques in the past.
Despite the decisive result in the lower house, Brazil's presidential chief of staff has said the government is confident that the Senate will dismiss Ms Rousseff's impeachment, allowing her to return to power.
On the streets of Brasilia, thousands of pro-impeachment demonstrators cheered as the results were broadcast on huge screens.
Fireworks lit up the night skies of Sao Paolo and Rio de Janeiro, with cars honking their horns in celebration.

Video: President Rousseff Timeline

Meanwhile, on the other side of a two-metre-high wall, Ms Rousseff's supporters watched in despair and claimed the result was a coup against her government.
Millions of working class Brazilians continue to back the president, as they credit her party's welfare policies with helping millions of families to leave poverty behind since coming into power 13 years ago.
Brazil is Latin America's largest economy, but it has been struggling through its worst recession since the 1930s.
With the Olympics in Rio just months away, the economy is contracting, inflation is soaring and a major outbreak of the Zika virus has ravaged the country's northeast - causing devastating birth defects in some newborn children.
Although Ms Rousseff has not been personally charged with corruption, more than 300 of the lawmakers deciding her fate are under investigation for corruption, fraud or electoral crimes.
Many pro-impeachment supporters believe the result is a victory against corruption, with one social worker saying: "Impeachment sends a clear message that the politics of this country needs to be cleaned up."