Brazil's President Dilma Rousseff reportedly said on Monday she is prepared to fight on despite the lower house's decision to impeach her. Thousands of supporters for and against her ouster took to the streets after the public voting took place on Sunday.
Even though Rousseff, a leftist former guerrilla leader, was once popular, her approval ratings have dipped to a mere 10 percent amid political upheaval, a massive Petrobras scandal and a failing economy. Rousseff has been accused of falsifying economic records to show a lower budget deficit before the 2014 reelection. However, she has not been named in a graft case whereas politicians of multiple parties, including her Worker's Party and the Brazilian Democratic Movement party (PMDB), are facing investigation.
"I believe in democracy," she was quoted as saying by the Guardian. "I will fight, like I have always done in my life. This is not the beginning of the end — it's the beginning of the fight."
Rousseff, labelling her ouster as a coup, criticised Vice-President Michel Temer for "openly conspiring against her."
After the lower house impeachment vote against Rousseff, which was passed with more than two-thirds majority, the 81-seat Senate will decide next month whether Brazil's first female president will face charges for falsifying state records. If the Senate were to accept the case, Rousseff will be the first president in two decades to face impeachment.
With Rousseff's impeachment, Temer is set to don the mantle of president temporarily. Temer faces charges in an illegal ethanol-purchasing scheme, according to the New York Times.
Temer's centre-right party PMDB, an ally of Rousseff's Worker's Party until they parted ways recently, is preparing for a take-over.
"We need to maintain a national mobilisation so that the senate hears the noise on the streets," Moreira Franco, a PMDB senior leader, tweeted on Monday.
