BRASILIA, Brazil — The lower chamber of Brazil’s Congress began a raucous debate Friday on whether to impeach President Dilma Rousseff, a question that underscores the deep polarization in Latin America’s largest country and most powerful economy.
If lawmakers approve the measure in a vote slated for Sunday, it gets sent to the Senate, where an impeachment trial could take place, prompting the president’s suspension from office.
The atmosphere in the lower Chamber of Deputies was electric, as Rousseff’s critics festooned themselves with yellow and green ribbons and brandished placards reading “Impeachment Now!”
Lawmakers backing impeachment allege that Rousseff’s administration violated fiscal rules, using sleight-of-hand accounting in a bid to shore up public support. However, many of those pushing for impeachment face grave accusations of corruption themselves, prompting Rousseff and her supporters to decry the whole process as a bold-faced power grab by her foes. Rousseff’s defenders insist she did nothing illegal. The Associated Press
