BRASÍLIA: Brazil faces one of the most dramatic weeks in its recent history with senators expected to suspend President Dilma Rousseff and open an impeachment trial against her.
The political crisis comes on top of one of the deepest recessions in decades in Latin America's biggest economy, just three months before it hosts the Olympic Games in Rio from August 5 to 21.
Senators gather on Wednesday to discuss whether to launch impeachment hearings against Rousseff over allegations that she covered up shortfalls in the public accounts while running for reelection.
Around 50 of the 81 senators have said they will vote in favor of an impeachment trial, well over the simple majority needed to launch the process. The vote is expected on Thursday.
Rousseff will then be suspended for six months while the trial in the Senate runs its course, before a definitive vote on whether to remove her from office for good.
The affair has heightened tensions in the country which has been shaken by a separate corruption scandal involving state oil company Petrobras that has implicated numerous politicians including allies and enemies of Rousseff.
Ministers are reportedly clearing their desks in government offices in the capital Brasilia, where the legislature is currently suspended pending the impeachment proceedings.
Rousseff, 68, has branded the drive to get rid of her a "coup" by "traitors" such as Vice President Michel Temer, 75, who will take over as head of state if she is suspended.
"This is an indirect election disguised as impeachment. The usurpers of power, who unfortunately include the vice president, are complicit in an extremely serious procedure," she said on Friday.
In further declarations on Saturday, she called for full elections.
"If they want to pass political judgment on my government, they should turn to the Brazilian people, not to impeachment."
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