Brazil: Rousseff Impeached, Michel Temer Sworn in as New President

Dilma Rousseff, who called the impeachment a coup, will be replaced by Michel Temer.

Brazil’s Senate removed leftist President Dilma Rousseff from office on Wednesday for breaking budgetary laws, in an impeachment process that has polarized the Latin American country and paralyzed its politics for nine months.

Senators voted 61-20 to convict Rousseff for illegally using money from state banks to boost public spending. Her conservative former Vice President Michel Temer, who has run the country since her suspension in May, will be sworn to serve out the remainder of her term through 2018.

A separate vote was also held on whether Rousseff will be barred from public office for eight years.

Rousseff Not Barred From Holding Office

Brazil’s Senate decided that Rousseff should not be barred from holding public office.

Senators voted 42-36 to allow Rousseff to maintain her political rights, short of the two-thirds needed to bar her. Under Brazilian law, a dismissed president is prevented from holding any government job, even teaching posts at state universities.

Dilma Rousseff will appeal her impeachment to the Supreme Court, her lawyer and former attorney general Jose Eduardo Cardozo told journalists on Wednesday after a final Senate vote to dismiss her.

Also Read: Brazil’s Dilma Rousseff Loses Crucial Impeachment Vote in Congress

Tough Task for Temer

Temer has vowed to boost an economy that has shrunk for six consecutive quarters and implement austerity measures to plug a record budget deficit, which cost Brazil its investment-grade credit rating in 2015.

An upturn in corporate investment in the second quarter provided a glimmer of economic hope for Temer, and economists expect a return to growth before the end of the year.

However, Temer is likely to face bitter political opposition from the Workers Party, which has vowed to take to the streets in protest against Rousseff’s removal from power. There are also signs of clear resistance in Congress to Temer’s proposals to cap public spending and reform public pensions.

Brazil’s stocks and real currency slightly accelerated gains following the Senate’s decision, but the reaction was muted as most traders were already counting on the result.

Markets analysts said investors would now be looking to Temer to deliver on his promises of fiscal reforms.

Motorists honked car horns in the Brazilian capital in a blaring tribute to the removal of a president whose popularity had dwindled to single figures since winning re-election in 2014.

In Brazil’s largest city, Sao Paulo, fireworks exploded in celebration after the vote.