Zürcher Nachrichten - Brazil impeachment: how we got here -- where we're going

EUR -
AED 4.317801
AFN 80.979844
ALL 97.610496
AMD 451.483654
ANG 2.103869
AOA 1077.973536
ARS 1479.465695
AUD 1.776779
AWG 2.118917
AZN 2.000015
BAM 1.957005
BBD 2.373671
BDT 143.719072
BGN 1.956779
BHD 0.443056
BIF 3503.971637
BMD 1.175544
BND 1.502031
BOB 8.124104
BRL 6.494993
BSD 1.175629
BTN 101.543933
BWP 15.711738
BYN 3.847384
BYR 23040.653776
BZD 2.361484
CAD 1.600168
CDF 3392.618829
CHF 0.933869
CLF 0.028431
CLP 1115.332118
CNY 8.416576
CNH 8.407905
COP 4751.323716
CRC 593.46781
CUC 1.175544
CUP 31.151904
CVE 110.333381
CZK 24.549461
DJF 209.141397
DKK 7.463932
DOP 71.33421
DZD 152.169837
EGP 57.671811
ERN 17.633153
ETB 162.154177
FJD 2.62817
FKP 0.866346
GBP 0.867493
GEL 3.185648
GGP 0.866346
GHS 12.285719
GIP 0.866346
GMD 84.638761
GNF 10199.321176
GTQ 9.022592
GYD 245.964532
HKD 9.227887
HNL 30.784079
HRK 7.537233
HTG 154.275615
HUF 397.940894
IDR 19154.247989
ILS 3.925393
IMP 0.866346
INR 101.551741
IQD 1540.054471
IRR 49505.078045
ISK 141.993868
JEP 0.866346
JMD 188.225855
JOD 0.833439
JPY 172.213016
KES 151.891991
KGS 102.628129
KHR 4710.91966
KMF 494.318453
KPW 1058.001156
KRW 1609.677651
KWD 0.358588
KYD 0.979707
KZT 638.122772
LAK 25342.922225
LBP 105337.180302
LKR 354.828401
LRD 235.718095
LSL 20.723844
LTL 3.471075
LVL 0.711075
LYD 6.344932
MAD 10.558944
MDL 19.768252
MGA 5183.25649
MKD 61.598176
MMK 2467.272975
MNT 4220.728197
MOP 9.505672
MRU 46.754977
MUR 53.193822
MVR 18.116892
MWK 2038.580781
MXN 21.820205
MYR 4.95551
MZN 75.187471
NAD 20.723844
NGN 1796.958933
NIO 43.266631
NOK 11.868923
NPR 162.470694
NZD 1.942341
OMR 0.451993
PAB 1.175639
PEN 4.180473
PGK 4.944064
PHP 66.592216
PKR 334.024096
PLN 4.255072
PYG 8805.457309
QAR 4.298364
RON 5.07076
RSD 117.126491
RUB 93.282205
RWF 1699.353199
SAR 4.410096
SBD 9.73949
SCR 17.003268
SDG 705.915065
SEK 11.179267
SGD 1.50094
SHP 0.923793
SLE 26.978394
SLL 24650.565321
SOS 671.91643
SRD 42.845082
STD 24331.378279
STN 24.515194
SVC 10.286375
SYP 15284.402596
SZL 20.706745
THB 37.94887
TJS 11.168617
TMT 4.126158
TND 3.426709
TOP 2.753244
TRY 47.56332
TTD 7.989952
TWD 34.513374
TZS 3027.024529
UAH 49.117841
UGX 4218.614547
USD 1.175544
UYU 47.019141
UZS 15004.29913
VES 141.386619
VND 30722.830941
VUV 140.8387
WST 3.231342
XAF 656.363791
XAG 0.030121
XAU 0.00035
XCD 3.176965
XCG 2.118804
XDR 0.814988
XOF 656.363791
XPF 119.331742
YER 283.247453
ZAR 20.685102
ZMK 10581.306424
ZMW 27.420227
ZWL 378.524547
  • RIO

    0.2900

    64.62

    +0.45%

  • CMSC

    -0.0400

    22.43

    -0.18%

  • SCU

    0.0000

    12.72

    0%

  • RYCEF

    0.2000

    13.5

    +1.48%

  • NGG

    -1.6300

    72.65

    -2.24%

  • BTI

    0.1500

    52.37

    +0.29%

  • GSK

    1.0100

    38.03

    +2.66%

  • SCS

    0.2100

    10.68

    +1.97%

  • RBGPF

    0.9700

    68

    +1.43%

  • AZN

    2.5200

    73

    +3.45%

  • CMSD

    -0.0300

    22.89

    -0.13%

  • RELX

    0.4100

    53.09

    +0.77%

  • VOD

    -0.0200

    11.3

    -0.18%

  • BP

    0.1900

    32.71

    +0.58%

  • JRI

    0.0000

    13.21

    0%

  • BCC

    1.2000

    88.35

    +1.36%

  • BCE

    0.2200

    24.6

    +0.89%

Brazil impeachment: how we got here -- where we're going
Brazil impeachment: how we got here -- where we're going

Brazil impeachment: how we got here -- where we're going

Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff was suspended Thursday to face an impeachment trial, sending the Latin American giant's political crisis into dramatic new territory.

Text size:

The country's first woman leader is now removed from her job for up to six months and her vice president-turned-enemy, Michel Temer, takes her place while the Senate decides her fate.

But while Rousseff faces the possible end of her political career, Brazil's problems appear far from over. Here's a look at how the country got into this mess -- and what could happen next.

What Rousseff's accused of

The impeachment case against Rousseff rests on charges that she illegally juggled government accounts and took state loans to mask the depth of shortfalls during her 2014 reelection.

She says that's not an impeachable offense -- that it was actually an accounting trick used consistently by previous governments.

But the impeachment drive is also fueled by massive disillusion in Brazil over a steep recession and revelations of a corruption network involving top politicians and business executives who colluded to steal from state oil company Petrobras.

Huge anti-government street rallies over the last year underlined that discontent.

Then the breakup of an uncomfortable coalition between her leftist Workers' Party and Temer's center-right PMDB left Rousseff helpless when the lower house of Congress voted in April on sending her to the Senate for possible trial.

What comes next?

Rousseff is suspended to face trial in the Senate, but can continue to live in the presidential residence and keeps her salary and bodyguards.

Temer, who has gone from coalition partner to principal opponent, formally took over as acting president.

He has the backing of the business world and said his priority is to address Brazil's worst recession in decades and end the paralysis gripping Congress during the drawn-out buildup to the Senate impeachment vote.

He quickly set about ditching her ministers and naming his own business-friendly, reform-minded cabinet.

The trial could take months to unfold, ending with a vote on whether to impeach the president.

Only half the 81 senators needed to vote to place Rousseff on trial, but to definitively remove her from office a two-thirds majority will be needed.

But the outlook is bleak for Rousseff: 55 senators voted to impeach Thursday, one more than the two-thirds threshold.

If Rousseff is removed from office, Temer would take her place until new elections scheduled for 2018.

Will Rousseff's exit solve everything?

The short answer is no.

A highly unpopular president is sidelined. But few ordinary Brazilians see Temer as a savior, with a recent poll finding only two percent of the country would vote for him in a presidential election.

The Petrobras corruption scandal also has yet to play out.

Prosecutors are investigating everybody from Rousseff -- who does not face charges so far -- to another opposition leader, Aecio Neves.

The Supreme Court authorized a probe into his alleged bribe taking and money laundering overnight, just before he voted to impeach Rousseff, the opponent he narrowly lost to in the 2014 presidential elections.

Temer has been named several times as a possible participant in the scheme, although there is currently no probe open against him.

Surprisingly, an electoral court has fined Temer for breaking campaign finance rules and he could be barred from running for public office for eight years. Entering the presidency via impeachment, however, doesn't count.

N.Fischer--NZN