Dilma Rousseff’s ouster leads to a political crisis
The Brazilian Senate's historic vote on Wednesday that finally removed the country's first woman President Dilma Rousseff from office may push the nation into a fresh political uncertainty. Her impeachment was a great relief as the majority of the lawmakers and the ordinary citizens across the country blamed her illegal book-keeping manoeuvers for hiding a huge budget deficit during her tenure. In fact, her ouster is seen as a ‘mild political coup' attempt by the country's elite who are highly dissatisfied with the populist measures of her Worker's Party. Besides, they were not really accustomed to a left government led both by Rousseff and her mentor cum former President luiz Inacio lula da Silva who were devising pro-poor policies for uplifting mainly the large middle class of the country, whom they really despise of. It is alleged that she is responsible for pushing Brazil into a deep financial crisis, a country which long enjoyed the darling status and fast becoming a role model among the emerging economies of the world.
Though many in the Opposition and among the rich sections of the Brazilian society have felt that her very impeachment will put an end to the colossal political crisis of nearly a year, but it seems it is just the beginning of the same. The post-Rousseff Brazil will witness a bitter political standoff between the supporters of her party and the opposition, which is already enmeshed with numerous charges of fraud and corruption. This may complicate the political space of the largest nation of the South American continent which in the past had experienced much more instances of hyper inflation and fiscal irregularity. What forms the background of this bitter fight is that she had allowed billions of dollars of kickbacks by the bidders at state oil company ‘Petrobras' and this funds were finally used for her re-election in January 2014 which she denies outrightly.
The much talked about investigation into this scandal known as ‘Operation Car Wash' initiated in March 2014 even quizzed lula who was once hailed as the savior of the country. With lula's questioning for involvement in the scandal and an impeachment move started by the House Speaker Cunha in December 2014 against Rousseff, barely a year after her returning to office for the second time, actually began the political earthquake in Brazil which was a grand move by the opposition, elite and the hard-pressed business lobby. Vice President Michel Temer who has been functioning as an interim President since May, has taken over as the President, for whom the Brazilians had already developed a bad taste for nominating an all-male, mostly white cabinet and also facing strong corruption charges. So neither he is graft-free. However, her suspension from office has thrown open more questions than answers for millions of Brazilians.