Brazil's Supreme Court Suspends Impeachment Proceedings of President Dilma Rousseff: What Happens Next?

The impeachment proceedings against Brazil President, Dilma Rousseff, were suspended by the Supreme Court, stating that it needs to verify the validity of the secret ballot first, which started the investigation on the country's leader.

A Reuters report published by Huffington Post noted that the decision was released late Tuesday and stopped the impeachment committee from forming. The ruling will apply until the Supreme Court decides whether the said ballot was valid or not.

In explaining the suspension of the impeachment, Justice Luiz Edson Fachin said that the move was aimed to avoid actions which could be ruled as invalid later on.

With this recent decision from the high court, Huffington Post said it could be in Rousseff's favor by curbing the power of her political opponent, lower house speaker, Eduardo Cunha.

Cunha was the person who launched the impeachment of Rousseff, as per CNN. It added that the president's second term has been tainted with a scandal which involved her Workers' Party.

"A sweeping corruption investigation into a multimillion-dollar kickback scheme at the state-run oil company Petrobras has embroiled dozens of the country's leading businessmen and politicians," explained the same report.

Rousseff served as Petrobras chair during the years when the alleged corruption happened.

It was added in the Reuters report that the Brazilian president denied any involvement in the corruption allegations.

"I did nothing wrong. There was no graft," Rousseff said noting that the reason for her impeachment was because she spent too much on social programs.

However, it was noted that the people of Brazil put the blame on her for the current recession in the country and want to see her ousted. 

Aljazeera added that the money Rousseff allegedly got from the corruption practices was used for her reelection campaign last year.

Once the impeachment proceedings start, it is expected that a special committee composed of members from all parties will decide if the request has merit.

"[It] needs two-thirds, or 342, of the votes of the chamber to suspend the president pending a 90-day trial by the Senate," added the same report.

Cunha dismissed reports that he started the issue for personal reasons. "The basis of this (impeachment proceeding) is purely technical," he added.

The lower house speaker, who started the investigation of the corruption scandal, has also been the subject of investigations for allegedly taking bribes and "holding secret Swiss bank accounts in his name."

Cunha and other politicians in Brazil were also linked to price-fixing and receiving political kickbacks.