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Brazil's President Ousted From Office By Senate


Outgoing Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff
Outgoing Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff

Brazil's Senate has voted to remove President Dilma Rousseff from office for manipulating the budget.

Sixty-one senators voted on August 31 in favor of Rousseff's impeachment and 20 against, meeting the two-thirds majority needed to remove her from the presidency.

"Today is the day that 61 men, many of them charged and corrupt, threw 54 million Brazilian votes in the garbage," Rousseff tweeted after the decision, which puts an end to 13 years in power for her left-wing Worker's Party.

Acting President Michel Temer, from the center-right PMDB party, will serve out the remainder of Rousseff's term through 2018.

Brazil's first female president was suspended in May, accused of moving funds between government budgets, which is illegal under Brazilian law.

Her critics said she was trying to plug deficit holes in popular social programs to boost her chances of being reelected in 2014.

Rousseff said she was being ousted because she had allowed a corruption probe to go ahead which resulted in many politicians being charged.

Based on reporting by AP and the BBC

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