Dilma Rousseff's impeachment process back on track as speaker reverses annulment decision

Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff's impeachment vote is back on track after Waldair Maranhao, the acting speaker of the lower house, said on Tuesday (10 May) that he has "reversed the decision" of annulment he had made on Monday. He had said that he invalidated an important vote passed in April on the ground that the procedure was "flawed".

The president of the Senate, Renan Calheiros, dismissed the annulment of the interim speaker. He said in a televised session on Monday (9 May): "To accept this playing with democracy would make me personally complicit in delaying this process. At the end of the day, it's not for the head of the Senate to say whether this process is fair or not, it's up to the full Senate." He added that they are going ahead with the proceedings on the impeachment vote.

According to AFP, 50 out of 81 officials in the Senate have said they would vote in favour of an impeachment motion which is well above the number needed to open the trial. If the trial goes ahead, which seems likely according to various media reports, the result will be announced on Thursday. If the majority votes for her to be impeached, then it will lead to the suspension of the president. Should that happen, Michael Temer, the vice president, will act as interim president.

After suspension, the trial could take months before a decision is reached. A two thirds majority is required for her to be removed from office.

The charges against Rousseff are that she manipulated the government's budget accounts in 2014, during her re-election.

For the first time last week, Rousseff was caught in the midst of the Petrobras corruption scandal, in which she was accused of obstruction of justice by the prosecutor general.