Politics
Following an exhausting impeachment process, Brazil’s Senate voted 61-20 in favor of removing the country’s suspended President Dilma Rousseff from office on Wednesday. The centre-right P.M.D.B. party politician, Michel Temer, has been sworn in as new president and will hold office to complete Rousseff’s term until January1, 2019. The development marks the end of 13 years of leftist Workers’ Party rule in Brazil.
Three-left wing South American governments, including that of Venezuela, Bolivia and Ecuador, criticized Rousseff’s impeachment, writes the BBC. Brazil and Venezuela have recalled each other’s ambassadors while Brazilian envoys to Bolivia and Ecuador have also been ordered home.
Rousseff, who was suspended from presidency in May over charges of manipulating national budget figures, insisted that her removal is a “parliamentary coup.”
Rousseff, who managed to win a separate Senate vote that sought to ban her from holding any government office for eight years, vowed to make a comeback and appeal against her dismissal, reports Reuters. The unexpected reprieve for Rousseff shows divisions in Temer’s fractious coalition, which are likely to grow as allies push the new president to deliver on austerity.
Temer may face serious challenge in restoring public confidence, as three of his ministers have already been forced to step down over alleged links to a massive corruption scandal in state-owned oil company Petrobras.
