Senate debates opening impeachment end game

Brazil’s Senate opened debate Tuesday ahead of a vote on sending suspended president Dilma Rousseff to an impeachment trial, bringing the Olympic host country’s political crisis to a climax. Rousseff’s opponents only need a simple majority of the 81 senators’ votes to open an impeachment trial. They look set to clear the threshold easily, although […]

Brazil’s Senate opened debate Tuesday ahead of a vote on sending suspended president Dilma Rousseff to an impeachment trial, bringing the Olympic host country’s political crisis to a climax.
Rousseff’s opponents only need a simple majority of the 81 senators’ votes to open an impeachment trial. They look set to clear the threshold easily, although the debate is expected to be a marathon session stretching into the early hours of Wednesday.
It is the final vote before the one that will decide Rousseff’s ultimate political fate, when a two-thirds majority would be needed to strip her of her power and end 13 years of leftist rule in Brazil. That vote is expected to take place around the end of August, just days after the Rio Olympics end.
The Senate suspended Rousseff, Brazil’s first woman president, on May 12 over accusations of illegal accounting practices and fiddling the budget.
Brazil’s Senate opened debate Tuesday ahead of a vote on sending suspended president Dilma Rousseff to an impeachment trial, bringing the Olympic host country’s political crisis to a climax.