Dilma Rousseff impeachment

The 2016 Brazilian congressional process that removed President Dilma Rousseff from the presidency for budgetary violations, amid intense dispute over the charges and their political context.

Fiscal responsibility law: Brazil’s 2000 law sets rules for public finances, including limits on spending and government borrowing. The prosecution alleged that Rousseff’s administration violated this law through unauthorized fiscal maneuvers.
2014 Brazilian general election: Brazil’s national election in October 2014, in which Dilma Rousseff won a second presidential term. The narrow victory left Rousseff facing a divided Congress and a contested mandate.
Parliamentary coup: A contested label for the use of legislative procedures to remove an elected government in a way critics consider undemocratic. Rousseff’s supporters used this term to argue that the proceedings disguised a political seizure of power.
2016 Brazilian parliamentary vote: The Senate’s August 31, 2016 vote that convicted Dilma Rousseff and removed her from the presidency. The vote ended Rousseff’s presidency by a 61–20 margin.
Fiscal pedaladas: A Brazilian fiscal maneuver in which public banks delayed payments owed by the federal government, making accounts appear stronger. These delayed payments formed a central part of the impeachment accusations.
Brazilian economic crisis: A severe Brazilian recession beginning in 2014, marked by falling output, rising unemployment, and fiscal strain. The recession intensified disputes over public spending and weakened support for Rousseff’s government.
Brazilian presidentialism: Brazil’s constitutional system combines a directly elected president with a multiparty legislature and separate executive and legislative powers. The case tested how presidential authority functions when a governing coalition collapses.
Temer government: The Brazilian federal administration led by Michel Temer from 2016 to 2018. Temer assumed the presidency and pursued a different economic and legislative agenda after Rousseff’s removal.
Supplementary credit decrees: Executive orders that authorize additional government spending beyond amounts specified in the annual budget. The charges also concerned decrees Rousseff issued without prior congressional authorization.
Operation Car Wash: A Brazilian corruption investigation launched in 2014 that uncovered extensive bribery and money laundering networks. The scandal destabilized Rousseff’s coalition, though the impeachment charges did not accuse her of personal enrichment.

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