Dilma Rousseff denies wrongdoing, pointing out that prior presidents have used similar accounting techniques. (File Photo)
BRASILIA:
Impeachment proceedings against Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff neared a decisive vote on Sunday with pro- and anti-government legislators yelling and shoving inside Congress while thousands of demonstrators for and against the embattled leader rallied outside.
Eduardo Cunha, the house speaker leading the drive to oust Rousseff, called "for silence" and respect.
The extraordinary session is the culmination of months of fighting, with friends and foes of Rousseff calling each other "putchists" and "thieves.
Emotions have been running high since the impeachment proceedings began in the Chamber of Deputies on Friday, with lawmakers holding raucous, name-calling sessions that last more than 40 hours.
Outside the legislature, waves of pro- and anti-impeachment demonstrators were flooding into the capital of Brasilia. A metal wall more than a kilometer (mile) long was installed to keep the rival sides safely apart.
Patricia Santos, a retired 52-year-old schoolteacher outside Congress, said she was fed up with the status quo and wanted Rousseff out.
"We want our politicians to be less corrupt, so we hope impeaching her will send a signal to them all," said Santos. "We know that all the parties are involved in the corruption but the Workers' Party has been the leaders of this all for the last 13 years so they have to go."
Thousands were demonstrating, both for and against the government, in other cities.
On Copacabana Beach in Rio de Janeiro, thousands of government supporters rallied as funk music blasted from a truck with large speakers.
Jader Alves, a 67-year-old retiree, promised that if Rousseff is impeached he'll be back on the streets.
"My president was elected in 2014 and she will remain in office until 2018, no matter what," said Alves.
If 342 of the lower house's 513 lawmakers vote in favor of the impeachment on Sunday, the proceedings move to the Senate, where a separate vote could suspend Rousseff and hand over the top job to Vice President Michel Temer, whom Rousseff has blasted in recent days as being part of the push against her.
If lawmakers vote against impeachment, this bid to oust Rousseff would be dead and any subsequent process would have to start over.
Newspapers have been updating their tallies on an almost hourly basis. With the result appearing to hang on the votes of a couple dozen undecided lawmakers, it was too close to call.
Brazil's president is facing impeachment over allegations she broke fiscal laws. Her detractors describe the sleight-of hand accounting as a bid to boost her government's floundering popularity amid a tanking economy and a corruption scandal so widespread it has taken down top public figures from across the political spectrum, as well as some of the country's richest businessmen.
Rousseff denies wrongdoing, pointing out that prior presidents have used similar accounting techniques. The allegations, she insists, are part of a "coup" spearheaded by Brazil's traditional ruling elite to snatch power back from her left-leaning Workers' Party, which has governed the nation for the past 13 years.
Latin America's largest nation is dealing with problems on many fronts. The economy is contracting, inflation is around 10 percent and an outbreak of the Zika virus, which can cause devastating birth defects, has ravaged parts of northeastern states. Rio de Janeiro is gearing up to host the Olympics in August, but sharp budget cuts have fueled worries about whether the country will be ready.
Many of the people pushing to oust Rousseff face serious allegations of wrongdoing themselves. About 60 percent of the 594 members of Congress are facing corruption and other charges.
Temer, a 75-year-old with the Brazilian Democratic Movement - a party bereft of any concrete ideology that has a reputation for backroom wheeling and dealing - has tried to cast himself as a statesman above the fray and a unifying force that can heal a scarred nation.
However, he has been linked to the massive corruption scheme centered at the state-run Petrobras oil company. Also, because he signed off on some of the questioned accounting maneuvers, Temer could later potentially face impeachment proceedings.
The second in line to replace Rousseff is Cunha, the house speaker and long-time Rousseff enemy. He's facing money laundering and other charges for allegedly accepting some $5 million in kickbacks in connection with the Petrobras scheme and could also be stripped of office over allegations he lied when he told a congressional committee he didn't hold any foreign bank accounts. Documents later emerged linking him and his family to Swiss bank accounts.
Under the special legal status afforded to Brazilian legislators and other top politicians, they must be tried by the Supreme Court, largely shielding them from prosecutions.
Rousseff has trumpeted the corruption allegations dogging her enemies, insisting that she's the only one not besmirched by corruption.
The argument appears to have struck a chord, even with the ardent impeachment supporters.
"I would feel much more comfortable if someone clean - with no charges, no allegations - were leading this process, but that's hard to find in the Brazilian Congress," said Douglas Sandri, a 25-year-old electrical engineer who traveled from the southern city of Porto Alegre to take part in pro-impeachment demonstrations. "If Temer is found to be corrupt, he will have to go, and all the others too."
But while much of the public appears to share Sandri's toss-them-all-out attitude, the corruption allegations don't appear to bother impeachment's backers inside the Chamber of Deputies.
"The presumption of innocence is a fundamental clause of our Constitution. Being charged or being the defendant in a case doesn't make a person dishonest," said Hiran Goncalves, a representative from the Amazonian state of Roraima who has come out in favor of impeachment.
(This story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Eduardo Cunha, the house speaker leading the drive to oust Rousseff, called "for silence" and respect.
The extraordinary session is the culmination of months of fighting, with friends and foes of Rousseff calling each other "putchists" and "thieves.
Emotions have been running high since the impeachment proceedings began in the Chamber of Deputies on Friday, with lawmakers holding raucous, name-calling sessions that last more than 40 hours.
Outside the legislature, waves of pro- and anti-impeachment demonstrators were flooding into the capital of Brasilia. A metal wall more than a kilometer (mile) long was installed to keep the rival sides safely apart.
Patricia Santos, a retired 52-year-old schoolteacher outside Congress, said she was fed up with the status quo and wanted Rousseff out.
"We want our politicians to be less corrupt, so we hope impeaching her will send a signal to them all," said Santos. "We know that all the parties are involved in the corruption but the Workers' Party has been the leaders of this all for the last 13 years so they have to go."
Thousands were demonstrating, both for and against the government, in other cities.
On Copacabana Beach in Rio de Janeiro, thousands of government supporters rallied as funk music blasted from a truck with large speakers.
Jader Alves, a 67-year-old retiree, promised that if Rousseff is impeached he'll be back on the streets.
"My president was elected in 2014 and she will remain in office until 2018, no matter what," said Alves.
If 342 of the lower house's 513 lawmakers vote in favor of the impeachment on Sunday, the proceedings move to the Senate, where a separate vote could suspend Rousseff and hand over the top job to Vice President Michel Temer, whom Rousseff has blasted in recent days as being part of the push against her.
If lawmakers vote against impeachment, this bid to oust Rousseff would be dead and any subsequent process would have to start over.
Newspapers have been updating their tallies on an almost hourly basis. With the result appearing to hang on the votes of a couple dozen undecided lawmakers, it was too close to call.
Brazil's president is facing impeachment over allegations she broke fiscal laws. Her detractors describe the sleight-of hand accounting as a bid to boost her government's floundering popularity amid a tanking economy and a corruption scandal so widespread it has taken down top public figures from across the political spectrum, as well as some of the country's richest businessmen.
Rousseff denies wrongdoing, pointing out that prior presidents have used similar accounting techniques. The allegations, she insists, are part of a "coup" spearheaded by Brazil's traditional ruling elite to snatch power back from her left-leaning Workers' Party, which has governed the nation for the past 13 years.
Latin America's largest nation is dealing with problems on many fronts. The economy is contracting, inflation is around 10 percent and an outbreak of the Zika virus, which can cause devastating birth defects, has ravaged parts of northeastern states. Rio de Janeiro is gearing up to host the Olympics in August, but sharp budget cuts have fueled worries about whether the country will be ready.
Many of the people pushing to oust Rousseff face serious allegations of wrongdoing themselves. About 60 percent of the 594 members of Congress are facing corruption and other charges.
Temer, a 75-year-old with the Brazilian Democratic Movement - a party bereft of any concrete ideology that has a reputation for backroom wheeling and dealing - has tried to cast himself as a statesman above the fray and a unifying force that can heal a scarred nation.
However, he has been linked to the massive corruption scheme centered at the state-run Petrobras oil company. Also, because he signed off on some of the questioned accounting maneuvers, Temer could later potentially face impeachment proceedings.
The second in line to replace Rousseff is Cunha, the house speaker and long-time Rousseff enemy. He's facing money laundering and other charges for allegedly accepting some $5 million in kickbacks in connection with the Petrobras scheme and could also be stripped of office over allegations he lied when he told a congressional committee he didn't hold any foreign bank accounts. Documents later emerged linking him and his family to Swiss bank accounts.
Under the special legal status afforded to Brazilian legislators and other top politicians, they must be tried by the Supreme Court, largely shielding them from prosecutions.
Rousseff has trumpeted the corruption allegations dogging her enemies, insisting that she's the only one not besmirched by corruption.
The argument appears to have struck a chord, even with the ardent impeachment supporters.
"I would feel much more comfortable if someone clean - with no charges, no allegations - were leading this process, but that's hard to find in the Brazilian Congress," said Douglas Sandri, a 25-year-old electrical engineer who traveled from the southern city of Porto Alegre to take part in pro-impeachment demonstrations. "If Temer is found to be corrupt, he will have to go, and all the others too."
But while much of the public appears to share Sandri's toss-them-all-out attitude, the corruption allegations don't appear to bother impeachment's backers inside the Chamber of Deputies.
"The presumption of innocence is a fundamental clause of our Constitution. Being charged or being the defendant in a case doesn't make a person dishonest," said Hiran Goncalves, a representative from the Amazonian state of Roraima who has come out in favor of impeachment.
(This story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
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