Over 50% of Brazilian Senators Favor President Rousseff's Impeachment

Forty-one out of 78 Brazilian senators have supported the impeachment of President Dilma Rousseff. A simple majority of 81 senators is needed to approve impeachment proceedings.

MEXICO CITY (Sputnik) – The number of Brazilian senators supporting the impeachment of President Dilma Rousseff has topped 50 percent, according to a televised meeting of the country’s upper house of parliament.

Forty-one senators have already expressed their support to temporarily suspend Rousseff. According to Brazilian law, a simple majority of 81 senators is needed to approve impeachment proceedings; however, there are currently only 78 senators present at the meeting.

On Wednesday, Brazil’s Senate debated whether the president should face an impeachment trial, in which case she would immediately be suspended from her job for up to six months.

In April, two-thirds of Brazil's lower house lawmakers voted in favor of impeaching Rousseff.

Brazil’s president has been facing a wave of public discontent for over a year amid Brazil’s struggling economy and a major corruption scandal in the state-owned Petrobras petroleum company.