Daily Times

BRASILIA: A special committee in Brazil’s Senate voted Friday to approve starting an impeachment trial against President Dilma Rousseff, who now faces being suspended from office in less than a week.

The committee’s recommendation was non-binding but marked the last formal stage before the full Senate votes Wednesday on whether to put the leftist leader on trial. Rousseff is accused of illegally manipulating government budget accounts.

The committee’s vote is non-binding but marks the last formal stage before the full Senate votes Wednesday on starting a trial and suspending the leftist president. With a ‘yes’ vote almost certain, Rousseff is preparing to step aside for up to six months while her trial takes place, plunging Brazil into ever deeper political infighting.

As soon as Rousseff is suspended Vice President Michel Temer, a center-right politician whose party recently broke off its shaky alliance with Rousseff’s Workers’ Party, would become interim president. The impeachment battle, a crumbling economy, and corruption probes against dozens of leading politicians and business executives have left Latin America’s biggest country in turmoil ahead of the Rio Olympics this August.

The impeachment is based on accusations that Rousseff made illegal accounting maneuvers to mask the depth of Brazil’s economic troubles during her tight 2014 reelection victory. The country’s first female president says the charges are trumped up to turn the impeachment process into a coup d’etat. She has vowed to resist to the end.