Brazil's lower house votes to impeach President Rousseff

BRASILIA, Brazil, April 17 (UPI) -- Brazil's lower house has approved the motion to impeach unpopular Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff, as voting continues.

After more than five hours of voting, the number of members of the Chamber of Deputies needed to approve the motion to impeach has reached the two-thirds majority with 342 lawmakers voting in favor. The Worker's Party leader conceded defeat moment before threshold

Lawmakers began voting at 1 p.m. Eastern time, casting ballots one by one in a special legislative session broadcast on live television.

The motion to impeach will now go to Brazil's Senate, where it will only require a simple majority to get pass. Rousseff's chances of survival are even more narrow there. She would be suspended from her presidency and Vice President Michel Temer would be sworn in. Senators have 180 days to conduct impeachment hearings before a final vote determines Rousseff's fate.

Rousseff could be suspended as early as May, about three months before the Summer Olympics kick off in Rio de Janeiro. The Olympics was expected to showcase Brazil as a rising power on the global stage, CNN reported.

This impeachment procedure has resulted in a political crisis amounting to a stunning reversal of fortune for Brazil where everything appeared to be going right just a few years earlier when the economy was humming along.

Now Brazil finds itself mired in its worst economic slump since the 1930s. Then, there is the Zika virus epidemic that continues to spread. With the opening ceremony of the Summer Olympics in Rio just four months away, the country's political leaders appear to be consumed with the political crisis and a sweeping corruption scandal.

While Rousseff isn't accused of stealing, opponents say she should be impeached because her administration tried to cover up budget gaps with funds from government banks. Rouseff denies any wrongdoing.

The Brazillian halls of Congress have become a place of bruising political combat in recent days. Lawmakers have loudly shouted calls for her ouster, with phrases like "Dilma Out!" echoeing through the halls. Her supporters denounce the impeachment push as "a coup."

Both sides have feverishly lobbied the few dozen lawmakers who have yet to say how they will vote Sunday,attempting to entice their votes with promises of high-level perks. But it's just that sort of backroom deal making that has left so many Brazilians angry at their leaders.