Alwaght- Brazilian president Dilma Rousseff received a deadly blow on Sunday as the country's lower house of Congress voted to impeach her.
In a rowdy session, 367 of the 513 Brazilian lawmakers had voted to impeach the country's first ever female president to send her for a trial in the Senate on charges of manipulating budget accounts.
Having 25 backing lawmakers beyond the two-thirds threshold, 342, the impeachment vote almost made it clear that Dilma Rousseff would be forced from office. Only 137 voted against the proposal, while a handful abstained.
As the outcome became clear, Jose Guimarães, the leader of the Workers party in the lower house, conceded defeat with more than 80 votes still to be counted. “The fight is now in the courts, the street and the senate,” he said.
In Brazil's largest cities of Sao Paulo and Rio de Janeiro, fireworks lit up the night sky and cars honked their horns in celebration after the vote.
In Brazilian capital of Brasilia, a metal barrier has been set up to divide the anti-impeachment protesters from the pro-impeachment group and more than three thousand police were at hand to prevent tension from flaring into an all-out boxing match.
The impeachment battle has paralyzed the activity of government in Brasilia, just four months before the country is due to host the Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, and as it seeks to battle an epidemic of the Zika virus, which has been linked to birth defects in newborns.
If the Senate now votes by a simple majority to proceed with the impeachment as expected in early May, Rousseff would be suspended from her post and be replaced by Vice President Michel Temer as acting president pending her trial. Temer would serve out Rousseff's term until 2018 if she is found guilty.
The impeachment battle, waged during Brazil's worst recession since the 1930s, has divided the country of 200 million people more deeply than at any time since the end of its military dictatorship in 1985.
It has also sparked a bitter battle between the 68-year-old Rousseff and Temer, 75, that appears likely to destabilize any future government and plunge Brazil into months of uncertainty.
