(VOVworld) – Brazil’s Senate voted 55 to 22 on Thursday to suspend President Dilma Rousseff from office for 180 days and begin an impeachment process. The decision took effect right away. Vice President Michel Temer, who was accused by Rousseff of betrayal, will temporarily replace her. Rousseff’s supporters staged a demonstration against the impeachment.

Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff (Photo: AFP)

During her 6-month suspension, the Senate will meet again, presided over by the head of the Supreme Court, Ricardo Lewandowski, to vote on Rousseff’s future. If two-thirds of the Senate, 54 of 81 senators, find her guilty, she will be removed from the presidency permanently, which will then be taken over by Vice President Temer.

Rousseff faced charges of being connected to a massive corruption scandal at the state-oil company Petrobras. She was accused of violating Brazil's fiscal responsibility laws by manipulating finances to hide a growing public deficit in 2014 and using the federal budget without the Congress’s approval.