Brazil: Three-Day Rousseff Impeachment Debate Begins

The lower house of the National Congress of Brazil has begun a three-day debate on whether to impeach President Dilma Rousseff, who is accused by opponents of breaking fiscal laws.

Lawmakers in favor of the dismissal of the president chanted "Dilma out" at the beginning of the debate, which began Friday morning and is scheduled to end with a vote Sunday night.

It is likely the process will reach the senate, which will decide whether to remove Rousseff from office.

Nearly all members of Brazil's largest political party in the lower house of Congress support impeachment, a high-ranking official of the Brazilian Democratic Movement Party, or PMDB said Thursday.

Brazil's Social Democratic Party, the largest centrist party remaining in President Dilma Rousseff's coalition, has also instructed its members in the lower house of Congress to vote for her impeachment on Sunday, a party leader revealed earlier this week.

Rousseff's opponents allege she manipulated government accounts to make the country’s deficit seems smaller than it was ahead of the 2014 presidential election to garner support for her re-election campaign.

Rousseff, however, has charged that the impeachment campaign constitutes an "attempted coup" by those seeking to overturn her 2014 electoral victory.