Rousseff rivals upbeat as hearing begins

BRASILIA: Brazil’s Senate was yesterday set to open the impeachment trial of suspended President Dilma Rousseff and hear witnesses for and against the leftist leader expected to be removed from office next week on charges of breaking budget laws.

Rousseff, Brazil’s first female president, will appear before the 81 senators on Monday to defend herself, but her opponents are confident they have more than the 54 votes needed to convict her.

The final vote expected next week would confirm her Vice-President Michel Temer as new leader through to 2018, ending 13 years of leftwing Workers Party rule. A poll published by O Globo newspaper showed that 51 senators were committed to voting to dismiss Rousseff, with only 19 supporting her and 11 undecided.

Temer’s right-leaning government held last-minute talks with senators and political parties to shore up votes against Rousseff, who has denied any wrongdoing and described efforts to oust her as a “coup”. Temer aides expected at least 60 senators to vote against Rousseff. If he is confirmed president, Temer would face a daunting task to steer Latin America’s largest economy out of its worst recession since the Great Depression and plug a budget deficit that topped 10% of GDP. – Reuters