Michel Temer Becomes President Of Brazil As Dilma Rousseff was "Impeached"

Dilma Rousseff has been removed from office as the President of Brazil and Vice-President Michel Temer has been sworn in as the country’s new leader.   

After a trial which lasted for five days and an overnight debate, 61 out of 81 senators voted to impeach Rousseff, Wednesday, August 31.

In a separate voting session, the senators agreed not to stop Rouseff from running for public office fro the next eight years.

Temer was sworn in few hours later.

The new President said during a televised broadcast, “Today we inaugurate a new era of two years and four months.”

Temer who is 75-years-old will stay in power until the next scheduled election in late 2018.

New President of Brazil, Michel Temer

Earlier this week, Dilma Rouseff pleaded innocent to an impeachment trial. She also told the Senate that removing her was tantamount to a right-wing “coup d’etat”.

Lucia Newman for Aljazeera said, “the new president now carried all the weight of this country on his shoulders. We are talking about a massive $60bn deficit, the worst recession this country has been in, double-digit inflation and millions of people out of work.”

Rousseff blames Petrobras investigation

Rousseff claimed that they wanted her removed because she refused to stop investigating state oil giant, Petrobras. A case which Michel Temer has also been accused of participating in stolen funds though he denied the allegations.

She added that her ousting was a conspiracy between “corrupt politicians who sought to derail the investigations into billions in kickbacks from the oil magnate.”

Ousted President Dilma Rousseff

Rousseff stated that the “irony of history” was her being judged for “crimes she did not commit”. Futhermore by people “accused of serious crimes.”

The removed President who contested under the leftist Workers’ Party, is facing accusations of window dressing the country’s economic problems. She allegedly did this by illegally using state loans to patch the 2014 budget. As a result, she sent Brazil into its deepest recession in decades.

Rousseff’s lawyer, Jose Eduardo Cardozo, also said the former president would appeal her impeachment.