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Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff’s Looming Suspension from Office is Back on Track | ASHARQ AL-AWSAT English Archive 2005 -2017
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Waldir Maranhao (C), the interim speaker of the lower house of the Brazilian Congress, speaks to the press in Brasilia on May 9, 2016.


Brazil – The impeachment of Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff was thrown into confusion when Waldir Maranhao, the interim speaker of the lower house of the Brazilian Congress, annulled Monday an April vote by lawmakers to launch the process.

Consequently, Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff’s approaching suspension from office was back on track on Tuesday following Maranho withdrewing his controversial decision to annul the impeachment vote against her. Roussef might be directly suspended from office for up to six months if a simple majority agrees to hold the trial, where eyes remain focused tomorrow on Wednesday as the Senate will vote on whether to put Rousseff on trial for breaking budget laws.

If convicted, Roussef will be replaced by Vice President Michel Temer and would stay in the post until elections in 2018.

Unluckily, Rousseff’s opponents own more than the 41 needed votes in order to launch her trial in the upper chamber, and they seem to be assertive they can gather two-thirds of the 81 senators to remove her from seat at the end of the 6 months trial.

Roussef will further be served with a notice by the Senate on Thursday if she did not win the votes and thus Temer would step as interim president while she will have to vacate the presidential palace, noting that she can continue to live in the presidential residence during the trial.

The latter has steadfastly denied committing any impeachable crime and has vowed to fight impeachment by all means legally possible. She has dismissed calls for her resignation. Nevertheless, the impeachment process is unfolding as investigators chase a separate, long-running probe into a vast kickback scheme at state-run oil company Petrobras.

The political crisis has hit at a time when Brazil would want to be shining on the world stage, as it prepares to host the Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro in August.