Brazil's senators voted overwhelmingly on Thursday, May 12, to put President Dilma Rousseff on trial, an impeachment push driven by mounting frustration in the country. (Dom Phillips,Nick Miroff,Jason Aldag/The Washington Post) 
 
 Brazil's senators voted overwhelmingly on Thursday, May 12, to put President Dilma Rousseff on trial, an impeachment push driven by mounting frustration in the country. (Dom Phillips,Nick Miroff,Jason Aldag/The Washington Post) 
 
 Brazil’s once-lauded model of leftist government appeared to come to an abrupt end Thursday, when lawmakers suspended President Dilma Rousseff in an extraordinary repudiation of her administration and the Workers’ Party that has ruled the country for 13 years. 
 
 Vice President Michel Temer quickly assumed control of Latin America’s largest country, signaling that he will take Brazil in a more free-market-friendly direction in an attempt to shore up its sagging economy and win over a skeptical public. A member of the centrist PMDB party, Temer introduced a conservative-leaning, all-male cabinet Thursday that swings Brazil toward the right. 
 
 He called on Brazilians to trust in the country’s values and in the recovery of its economy, which is suffering its worst crisis in 80 years. “It is urgent to pacify our nation and unify Brazil,” he said. 
 
 Rousseff’s removal sent shock waves throughout Latin America, where Brazil was once viewed as an emerging economic power and the model for a new form of leftist rule, matching support for big business with muscular social-welfare programs to alleviate poverty and nurture a new middle class. That project has come crashing down, and Rousseff paid the price Thursday. She faces impeachment proceedings that could last six months. An overwhelming vote against her in Brazil’s Senate indicated that she had little chance of being acquitted. 
 
 Rousseff, 68, is accused of improperly using billions of dollars in loans from government banks to fill budget shortfalls and pay for social programs. But the impeachment vote became a broader referendum on her leadership amid a painful recession and corruption scandals that have swept up much of the country’s political elite. 
 
 Supporters of suspended President Dilma Rousseff hold up messages outside her office in Brasilia on May 12, 2016, denouncing the Senate vote against her as a “coup.” (Evaristo Sa/AFP/Getty Images) 
 
 The country’s first female president vowed to fight the charges against her — raising the possibility of further political instability as Brazil stumbles toward the Aug. 5 opening ceremony of the Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro. 
 
 Rousseff’s supporters called for strikes and demonstrations blocking roadways, but the sympathizers who gathered at the presidential palace Thursday appeared to number only in the hundreds. 
 
 [The charges against Dilma Rousseff, explained] 
 
 A former leftist militant who was jailed and beaten as a young woman during Brazil’s military dictatorship, Rousseff called her suspension “an injustice more painful” than torture, blasting the impeachment vote as “fraudulent” and a “coup.” 
 
 Her defiant remarks came after a 20-hour debate that ended with 55 of Brazil’s 81 senators voting to put her on trial, far more than the simple majority needed. 
 
 Her accusers say Rousseff systematically obscured the precarious state of the country’s finances from lawmakers and the public to boost her reelection prospects in 2014 and conceal her mismanagement. The impeachment allegations cover only her present term, however. 
 
 Just hours after the vote, she insisted again that her predecessors had used the same bookkeeping tactics. “It was not a crime in their time. It’s not a crime in mine,” she said in a brief televised speech. 
 
 1 of 28 Full Screen Autoplay Close Skip Ad × Brazil sets impeachment vote on President Dilma Rousseff View Photos Brazilian lawmakers weigh whether to oust the president as supporters and opponents take to the streets in protest. Caption Brazilians lawmakers weigh whether to oust the president as supporters and opponents took to the streets in protest. April 17, 2016 In Brasilia, deputies fight during a session to discuss the admissibility of the impeachment request of President Dilma Rousseff. Evaristo Sa/AFP/Getty Images Buy Photo Wait 1 second to continue. 
 
 But her accusers say her accounting methods involved far greater sums. 
 
 [Brazil goes from female president to leader with millennial wife] 
 
 Temer takes office with a weak government and mandate; recent polls showed that only 2 percent of Brazilians wanted him to be president. 
 
 All of the 21 ministers Temer announced Thursday are men, a fact that will fan accusations of gender bias in the push to oust Rousseff, especially from backers of the Workers’ Party, which championed greater diversity in government. 
 
 In his first comments after the impeachment vote, Temer said he would focus on reviving the economy and would maintain popular social programs. His new finance minister is a respected former banker, Henrique Meirelles, who was central bank chief under Rousseff’s predecessor Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva. 
 
 Temer also sought to give assurances that the Olympic Games will go off well, saying that billions of people would be watching and that Brazil could show itself at its best. “We will never get another opportunity like this,” he said. 
 
 According to Marcos Troyjo, a former Brazilian diplomat who is a professor of international affairs at Columbia University in New York, Temer’s arrival is likely to bring a shift in trade policy that will make Brazil more attractive for U.S. investors. Temer named Sen. José Serra, who ran against Rousseff in the 2010 presidential election and voted Thursday to remove her, as foreign minister. 
 
 “Serra will bring Brazil closer to the West, not only in ideological terms, but practical terms, in terms of market access,” Troyjo said. Rousseff had cordial, although not close, relations with the Obama administration. 
 
 [Why the world needs Brazil to bounce back] 
 
 Rousseff’s departure was part of a broader political shift in Latin America, Troyjo said, away from the center-left populist model that dominated the region for most of the past decade. 
 
 “It puts Brazil in line with a trend being felt around Latin America,” he said. 
 
 Temer assumes the presidency on an interim basis, but he would serve out the rest of Rous­seff’s term if she were found guilty. In Brazil’s multiparty system, it is not uncommon for a presidential candidate to run with a vice-presidential candidate from a different party. 
 
 [How Brazil’s Workers’ Party lost the workers] 
 
 A career politician, Temer’s reputation is that of a skilled negotiator and smooth behind-the-scenes operator. But he is hardly colorless. 
 
 Temer, 75, is a legal scholar and sometime poet who is famous for dapper suits, slicked-back silver hair and young wife Marcela, who will turn 33 on Monday. 
 
 Temer is the author of a book of sensual verses inspired by his spouse, a former beauty pageant contestant who became his third wife in 2003. 
 
 Temer is one of the many Brazilian politicians who have been implicated in the “Car Wash” bribery scandal at state oil company Petrobras, but he has not been charged. On Thursday, he said would protect the long-running judicial investigation from any possible attempts to weaken it. Rousseff is not under suspicion of graft in relation to that scandal. 
 
 Those who know Temer, the son of Lebanese Christian immigrants, say he has the political skills to quickly win over a skeptical public. 
 
 “I have never seen someone as prepared for this emotionally as Michel Temer,” said Jacob Goldberg, one of Brazil’s most celebrated psychoanalysts. Goldberg said he has had a close relationship with Temer for decades, calling him “a cordial man, a man of dialogue” and “not a man of confrontation.” 
 
 He declined to confirm whether Temer had been his patient, citing confidentiality. 
 
 The early-morning vote on Rousseff was the equivalent of impeachment in most democracies. But legal experts say that, in the Brazilian context, a politician is considered “impeached” only if found guilty. 
 
 Rousseff’s removal is a once-unthinkable revolt against her Workers’ Party, co-founded by her mentor Lula, who left office in 2010 with an 87 percent approval rating and an economy growing at an annual rate of 7.5 percent. Lula was among the aides who embraced Rousseff in an emotional scene Thursday morning as she left her office for perhaps the last time. 
 
 Lula, too, is under investigation on allegations of corruption and obstruction of justice but says he is innocent. 
 
 Brian Murphy in Washington contributed to this report. 
 
 Read more: 
 
 Ghosts of Brazil’s past haunt presidential impeachment crisis 
 
 How Brazil, the darling of the developing world, came undone 
 
 How Brazil’s ruling Workers’ Party lost the workers 
 
 Today’s coverage from Post correspondents around the world ||||| Brazil's President Dilma Rousseff attends the opening of the National Conference of Women, in Brasilia, Brazil, Tuesday, May 10, 2016. The impeachment proceedings against Rousseff took another hairpin... (Associated Press) 
 
 Brazil's President Dilma Rousseff attends the opening of the National Conference of Women, in Brasilia, Brazil, Tuesday, May 10, 2016. The impeachment proceedings against Rousseff took another hairpin turn Tuesday after the acting speaker of Congress' lower house Waldir Maranhao put the impeachment... (Associated Press) 
 
 Brazil's President Dilma Rousseff attends the opening of the National Conference of Women, in Brasilia, Brazil, Tuesday, May 10, 2016. The impeachment proceedings against Rousseff took another hairpin turn Tuesday after the acting speaker of Congress' lower house Waldir Maranhao put the impeachment... (Associated Press) Brazil's President Dilma Rousseff attends the opening of the National Conference of Women, in Brasilia, Brazil, Tuesday, May 10, 2016. The impeachment proceedings against Rousseff took another hairpin... (Associated Press) 
 
 SAO PAULO (AP) — Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff is facing possible impeachment by Congress, with the Senate expected to vote Wednesday on a measure to suspend her. The effort comes amid an angry public mood over the South American nation's worst recession in decades and a big bribery scandal at the state oil company Petrobras. Yet, it is not tied to either of those. The Associated Press explains what's behind the movement to oust her, and how it could play out: 
 
 ___ 
 
 WHAT IS ROUSSEFF ACCUSED OF DOING? 
 
 She is accused of breaking fiscal laws by shifting around government funds to plug budget holes. Opposition parties say sleight of hand accounting allowed her to boost public spending to shore up support. Rousseff denies any wrongdoing, saying she didn't do anything that was not common practice in all prior administrations. She further argues that she isn't being charged with a crime, which should be the basis for any impeachment. 
 
 ___ 
 
 WHAT WAS THE FIRST STEP OF IMPEACHMENT? 
 
 Last month, the Chamber of Deputies voted 367-137 to send the impeachment measure to the Senate. The overwhelming favorable vote added momentum to the impeachment push. The Senate had been seen as friendlier to Rousseff than the lower house and more likely to reject impeachment, but the lower chamber vote seemed to change that dynamic. 
 
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 WHAT'S THE LATEST? 
 
 If a simple majority of the 81 senators vote in favor Wednesday, and several counts by newspapers suggest that will happen, then Rousseff will be suspended and Vice President Michel Temer will take over. The Senate will then have 180 days to conduct a trial and vote whether to permanently remove Rousseff. If that happens, Temer would serve out her term, ending Dec. 31, 2018. 
 
 ___ 
 
 COULD ANYTHING STOP THE PROCESS? 
 
 The government and opposition parties have filed appeals to Brazil's highest court on many aspects of the process, so the possibility exists that the court, or even individual justices, could intervene. On Monday, the lower house's acting Speaker Waldir Maranhao annulled the chamber's April vote in favor of impeachment, arguing there were irregularities and it had to be re-voted on. However, under pressure from his party, he did an about-face Tuesday and rescinded his annulment. 
 
 ___ 
 
 HOW DO ROUSSEFF'S SUPPORTERS AND DETRACTORS CHARACTERIZE THE SITUATION? 
 
 Government supporters call the impeachment push a coup because Rousseff has not been charged with any crime. They say Brazil's traditional ruling class has been unnerved by the social movement under Rousseff's Worker's Party over more than a decade in power and is seizing the opportunity to take back power. Opponents say the administration's maneuvering of funds was illegal and an attempt to mask problems in Latin America's largest economy, such as huge budget gaps that have surfaced over the last year. They say impeachment can't be considered a coup because it's allowed in the constitution.
– Dilma Rousseff, Brazil's first female president, was removed from office Wednesday, the New York Times reports. The Brazilian senate voted 61-20 to impeach Rousseff, reports the BBC, covering the two-thirds majority needed. Rousseff, who was suspended in May, was accused of illegally moving government funds between different budgets to hide Brazil's growing economic woes and bolster popular social programs. Rousseff denies any wrongdoing and defended herself in front of the senate Monday, calling her ouster a coup. "From the day after I was elected, several measures were taken to destabilize my government," she said. "And you have been systematically making accusations against me." Acting president Michel Temer is scheduled to be sworn in Wednesday to finish Rousseff's term, which lasts through 2018. His center-right PMDB party ends 13 years in power by the left-wing Workers' Party. However, Temer's approval rating is as bad as Rousseff's, and the PMDB party is already beset by scandals. In fact, Temer's anticorruption minister recently resigned. Rousseff is likely to appeal the impeachment vote in court, though NPR reports she's unlikely to be successful. The senate voted 42-36 to allow her to run for office again, but Rousseff has previously said she'll retire to her hometown if successfully impeached.