Brazil Senate kicks off crucial debate to impeach Rousseff

Brazil’s Senate has kicked off a crucial debate session to impeach incumbent President Dilma Rousseff based on allegations that she manipulated fiscal rules in the run-up to her 2014 re-election.

The debate, followed by a vote, is not expected to be concluded until late on Wednesday or the early hours of Thursday.

If the country’s 81-member chamber votes against Rousseff as expected, the leftist leader will be suspended from office and Vice President Michel Temer will take over for up to six months pending a decision on whether to remove her from office permanently.

A simple majority would be enough to trigger Rousseff's six-month suspension pending judgment. However, a two-thirds majority would force her from office permanently and could bring down the curtain on 13 years of leftist rule in Latin America's biggest country.

Senate President Renan Calheiros, who is overseeing the proceedings, said during a recent press briefing that impeachment would be "traumatic" for Brazil, adding, "The process of impeachment... is long, traumatic and does not produce quick results."

Reacting to the developments, Paulo Paim, a senator of Rousseff's ruling Workers' Party, admitted that the president has no chance of surviving the vote. "There won't be any miracle. She'll be suspended for six months and then we'll open the debate on the merits" of the case, Paim said.

Opposition lawmakers say impeachment was needed to heal Brazil’s sick economy.

"As soon as we vote for impeachment, the dollar will fall (strengthening Brazil's currency), our stock market will rise and the patient will breathe again," said Magno Malta, an opposition senator. "The doctor will say the patient is showing signs of life and is in intensive care."

Ahead of the vote, Rousseff asked the Supreme Court to block proceedings against her, citing irregularities.

During a recent defiant address to a women’s forum in Brasilia, President Rousseff vowed to stay in office until her term formally expires in 2018. Rousseff has promised to fight the impeachment process against her both through legal means and a struggle in the streets.

Brazil has been the scene of a major political turmoil over the past months, with embattled Rousseff intensively fighting for her political survival against opposition congressmen, who aggressively seek her ouster, saying she illegally manipulated government budget accounts during her 2014 reelection battle.

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

However, Rousseff has denied the allegations against her as politically-motivated, accusing the opposition of orchestrating a coup.

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