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Brazil swears in new president after ousting of Dilma Rousseff

A new president has been sworn in in Brazil after Dilma Rousseff was removed from office. Senator...
Newstalk
Newstalk

09.42 1 Sep 2016


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Brazil swears in new president...

Brazil swears in new president after ousting of Dilma Rousseff

Newstalk
Newstalk

09.42 1 Sep 2016


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A new president has been sworn in in Brazil after Dilma Rousseff was removed from office.

Senators voted to impeach Ms Rousseff, who was Brazil’s first female president, over claims that she manipulated the federal budget.

The Workers' Party leader has been accused of using money from state banks to boost public spending, against budgetary rules.

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She denies any wrongdoing, and has said previous leaders used similar accounting measures.

Ms Rousseff was replaced last night by former vice-president Michel Temer, who has run the country since Ms Rousseff was suspended in May.

Mr Temer, a centre-right member of the Brazilian Democratic Movement, will now serve out the remainder of her term through 2018.

The move marks the culmination of a year-long impeachment battle that paralaysed Latin America's most powerful economy and laid bare deep rifts among the population on everything from race relations to social spending.

In a separate vote, senators decided Ms Rousseff should not be barred from public office.

Motorists blared car horns in the capital Brasilia in celebration at the removal of a president whose popularity had plummeted since winning re-election in 2014.

In Brazil's largest city, Sao Paulo, fireworks were let off after news of the vote emerged.

Pro-Rousseff supporters also took to the streets, however, in protest at her removal.

A demonstrator shouts slogans against Michel Temer while wearing a mask that reads "Temer out" during a march in Rio de Janeiro | Photo: PA Images

Ms Rousseff maintained the impeachment process was aimed at protecting the interests of Brazil's economic elite and rolling back social programmes that have lifted millions of citizens out of poverty in the last decade.

Her opponents have hailed it as an opportunity to turn the page on a drawn out political crisis, the country's worst recession for generations and a corruption scandal at state oil company Petrobas.

Mr Temer has promised to boost Brazil's economy, which has shrunk for six consecutive quarters, and implement austerity measures to plug a budget deficit.


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