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Brazil President Rousseff pledges ‘long’ fight against impeachment

Tuesday, 19 April 2016 1:53 AM [ Last Update: Tuesday, 19 April 2016 1:52 AM ]

Anti-government demonstrators watch on a large screen lawmakers voting on whether or not to impeach President Dilma Rousseff in Sao Paulo, Brazil, April 17, 2016. (AP)

Brazil’s President Dilma Rousseff has pledged to wage a "long" fight against impeachment after the lower house of congress passed a motion to send her case to the senate over corruption charges.

"This is not the beginning of the end. The battle has begun. This fight will be very long and memorable," Rousseff said during a televised speech on Monday. "I have strength, spirit and courage. I will not be beaten, I will not be paralyzed. I will continue to fight," she added.

On Sunday, opposition lawmakers got the 342 votes — or two-thirds of the 513 votes in the lower house — needed to secure enough support for Rousseff’s impeachment to go ahead. The proceedings will now be sent to the senate for a vote expected in May.

If the senate approves the motion too, Rousseff will have to leave office for 180 days as the impeachment trial proceeds. In such a case, her vice-president-turned-opponent, Michel Temer, would take over.

During her speech, Rousseff also dismissed the impeachment process as a “coup d’état”, calling Temer a traitor who had conspired against her.

*Brazilian lawmakers vote on whether the impeachment of President Dilma Rousseff should move forward, at the congress in the capital, Brasilia, April 17, 2016. (AP)*

Recent polls show that over 60 percent of Brazil’s 200 million people back impeaching Rousseff.

Her government stands accused of violating fiscal rules to promote her 2014 re-election campaign.

The incumbent president is also under fire over a graft scandal at the state oil company Petrobras, where she was the manager before taking office as president in 2010.

Recently, she further angered the opposition by giving her predecessor and ally Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, who is himself implicated in the corruption case, a top position in the cabinet. Opponents say the move is aimed at granting him immunity from prosecution. However, Rousseff has denied the allegations against her as politically-motivated.

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