Spanish Podemos Party Urges Government Not to Recognize Brazil's New President

Spain's left-wing Podemos party has urged the country's government not to recognize the new "unlawful" Brazilian authorities in the wake of impeachment of former President Dilma Rousseff.

MADRID (Sputnik) — According to the statement, the only legal and democratic way to change the presidential mandate is to win an election.

"Podemos urges the Government of Spain not to recognize the Brazilian government formed unlawfully as result of the ousting of President Dilma. We urge our government not to forget the commitment to democracy that should guide our foreign policy as a fundamental principle," Podemos said in a statement.

On Wednesday, the Brazilian Senate voted 61-20 to impeach Rousseff. A subsequent vote to bar Rousseff from holding public office for eight years failed. Brazil’s former Vice President Michel Temer was sworn in as the country’s new leader.

After the Senate vote, Ecuador, Venezuela and Bolivia all recalled their ambassadors from Brazil.

In May, the upper house of the Brazilian parliament voted 55-22 to start impeachment proceedings against Rousseff after she was accused of concealing the country’s budget deficit ahead of the 2014 election. Rousseff was suspended from office for 180 days. Michel Temer, who had been Brazil's vice president since 2011, assumed the presidency during that period.

Temer will now serve as president until the new presidential elections in Brazil, scheduled to take place at the end of 2018.