巴西参议院投票同意开始对深陷困境的罗塞夫总统进行弹劾审讯。此举有可能将权力正式移交给她的前副总统、现任临时总统特梅。
参议院辩论持续到周三凌晨，但结果非常明确，参议员们以59比21的多数投票支持推动弹劾程序。参议院只需简单多数就可以决定让罗塞夫接受审讯，但最后的弹劾投票则需要三分之二的多数才能通过，这将在8月底的审讯之后进行。
参议院今年5月令罗塞夫停职。之前，有指控浮出水面说，罗塞夫在2014年竞选连任期间，为了让经济衰退看上去没有实际情况那么严重，非法编造了该国预算数字。但是，在整个弹劾过程中，罗塞夫都坚决表示她没有做错任何事，并称这是一场政变。
罗塞夫还否认自己违反了预算法，并坚称她是右翼阴谋推翻政府的受害人，而她领导下的这届政府是促进穷人利益的。
上个月，罗塞夫在其书面辩护书中说，巴西人知道受审的是一个诚实的女人。她称这个弹劾程序是一场“闹剧”，她被指控的犯罪不外乎是“预算管理层的常规行为。”
一旦被判刑，她对巴西长达13年的统治就将宣告结束，拉美这个最大的经济体也将移交給她的保守派副总统。
自从参议院5月12日令罗塞夫停职以来，巴西股票市场和货币都有所加强，因为投资者预计，特梅的政策建议布局有利于私营企业，对经济更好。
特梅已经恳请参议院迅速采取行动，他说:“人民需要知道总统是谁。”
如果罗塞夫被判有罪，特梅将接任总统直到2018年举行下一次大选。
The Brazilian Senate has voted to begin the impeachment trial of embattled President Dilma Rousseff, a move that could officially hand over power to her former vice president – current interim president – Michel Temer.
Senate debate stretched into the early hours of Wednesday morning, but the results were clear-cut, with a 59 to 21 majority voting in favor of moving forward with the impeachment proceedings. The Senate needed just a simple majority to decide on taking Rousseff to trial, but a two-thirds majority will be needed in the final vote, which will come after the trial in late August.
The Senate suspended Rousseff in May after allegations emerged that she illegally fudged the numbers on the country's budget to make it seem like a slump in the economy wasn't as bad as it actually was during her 2014 re-election campaign. Throughout the impeachment process, Rousseff has maintained that she did nothing wrong and called it a coup.
Rousseff has denied she broke budget laws and maintains she is the victim of a right-wing conspiracy to overthrow her government that advanced the interests of Brazil's poor.
In her written defense last month Rousseff said Brazilians knew an honest woman was being put on trial and she called the impeachment proceedings a "farce" and her alleged crimes no more than "routine acts of budgetary management."
Her conviction would end her 13-year reign over Brazil, and leave the largest economy in Latin America in the hands of her conservative former vice president.
Since the Senate suspended Rousseff on May 12, Brazil's stock market and currency have strengthened based on investor speculation that Temer, who has laid out policy proposals that favor private business, will be better for the economy.
Temer has implored the Senate to move quickly, saying that the “"people need to know who the president is."
If Rousseff is found guilty, Temer will become the president until the next election is held in 2018.
