Could Brazil's President Dilma Rousseff be impeached?
Brazil impeachment: Key questions
(4 months later)
The impeachment process against Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff appears to be back on track after the acting speaker of the lower house of the Brazilian Congress reversed his own decision to annul the impeachment proceedings against her.
The Brazilian senate has impeached Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff for illegally manipulating government accounts.
Brazil's Senate now is again on course to vote on 11 May on whether to launch an impeachment trial against President Dilma Rousseff for allegedly manipulating government accounts.
Here we take a closer look at the impeachment proceedings and how we got here.
Millions of Brazilians have called for her to be thrown out of office. Here we take a closer look at the problems in Brazil and the details of the impeachment proceedings.
What was Ms Rousseff accused of?
What is Ms Rousseff accused of?
Simply put, Ms Rousseff was accused of breaking fiscal laws.
President Rousseff is accused of violating fiscal laws by allegedly using funds from state banks to cover budget shortfalls, ahead of her re-election in October 2014.
She was found guilty of moving funds between government budgets, which is illegal under Brazilian law.
She is alleged to have juggled public funds to make her government's economic performance appear better than it was to increase her chances of a second term.
Her critics said she was trying to plug deficit holes in popular social programmes to boost her chances of being re-elected for a second term in October 2014.
Her critics say she violated Brazil's financial accountability laws and should be stripped of her office.
Ms Rousseff denied having done anything illegal and said that moving money between budgets was common practice among her predecessors in office.
Ms Rousseff has denied any wrongdoing and says the impeachment proceedings are tantamount to a coup d'etat.
Who wanted her gone?
Who wants her gone?
Ms Rousseff alleged that the impeachment proceedings were tantamount to a coup d'etat against her.
The petition to impeach President Rousseff was made by three lawyers, including 93-year-old Helio Bicudo, a former member of Ms Rousseff's Workers' Party turned opposition activist.
She said the proceedings were being used by her enemies to remove her from office without having to wait for the next presidential election.
Mr Bicudo said the Workers' Party had gone from being "a socialist party created to help people to serving the interests of a few who seek power".
Her main rival and a driving force behind the impeachment was the former speaker of the house, Eduardo Cunha.
Their petition was accepted by the then-speaker of the lower house of Congress, Eduardo Cunha.
Mr Cunha's opponents said he was a political opportunist who had switched sides to increase his influence and that of his PMDB party.
Mr Cunha, a former ally of Ms Rousseff, has become one of her fiercest critics.
To back up their claim, they pointed to the fact that the PMDB stood to win from the suspension of Ms Rousseff.
Critics of Mr Cunha say he is a political opportunist who is only trying to get his PMDB party into power.
Under Brazil's constitution, the vice-president takes over on an interim basis if the president is suspended from office.
They point to the fact that under Brazil's constitution, Vice-President Michel Temer - who is also from the PMDB party - would become acting president if Ms Rousseff were to be suspended or impeached.
That is how the PMDB's Michel Temer went from being Ms Rousseff's vice-president to inaugurating the Olympic Games as Brazil's acting president.
They also say that Mr Cunha lacks credibility because prosecutors have accused him of taking $5m (£3.5m) in bribes from companies seeking to secure contracts with state-oil giant Petrobras.
However, things did not work out smoothly for Mr Cunha either. He had to resign in July over corruption allegations, which he denies.
He has denied the charges.
What do Brazilians think?
What do Brazilians think?
Ms Rousseff's approval ratings have plummeted from their all-time high of 79% in March 2013 to about 10% in March 2016.
Ms Rousseff's approval ratings have plummeted from their all-time high of 79% in March 2013 to about 10% in March 2016.
There have been mass demonstrations in major Brazilian cities demanding that she resign.
There were mass demonstrations in major Brazilian cities demanding that she resign.
But there have also been smaller rallies in her support.
But there were also smaller rallies in her support.
Many Brazilians say they are fed up with the high levels of corruption in Brazilian politics.
Many Brazilians said they were fed up with the high levels of corruption in Brazilian politics.
But with some of the politicians next in line to succeed Ms Rousseff also under investigation for either alleged mismanagement or alleged corruption, no party seems untouched by the allegations.
But with some of the politicians who backed her impeachment also under investigation for either mismanagement or corruption, no party seems untouched by the allegations.
What has happened so far?
What happened when?
The lower house of Congress voted on 17 April on whether impeachment proceedings against Ms Rousseff should go ahead.
The lower house of Congress voted on 17 April on whether impeachment proceedings against Ms Rousseff should go ahead.
In a late-night session, 367 out of 513 lawmakers voted in favour, comfortably reaching the two-thirds threshold needed for the matter to be passed on to the Senate.
In a late-night session, 367 out of 513 lawmakers voted in favour, comfortably reaching the two-thirds threshold needed for the matter to be passed to the Senate.
A vote in the Senate was scheduled for 11 May.
A vote in the Senate followed in May, in which 55 senators voted in favour of the impeachment process going ahead and 22 against.
But on 9 May, lower house Speaker Waldir Maranhao threw the proceedings into disarray when he annulled the 17 April vote saying there had been procedural flaws.
Another vote was held in the Senate in August which the senators decided by 59 to 21 votes that there was enough evidence against Ms Rousseff to proceed to the trial phase.
He ordered that the Senate vote be postponed until a new vote had been held in the lower house.
On 31 August, the Senate voted 61 to 20 in favour of Ms Rousseff's impeachment.
However, just hours later he went back on his own decision and revoked the annulment without citing any reasons.
What happens next?
What happens next?
The Senate looks set to go ahead with its vote on 11 May in a session scheduled to start at 09:00 local time (13:00BST).
Michel Temer, who served as Ms Rousseff's vice-president and who has been the acting president since her suspension in May, will be officially sworn in as president later on Wednesday.
Each Senator who wishes to will be given a limited time to speak. Then, an electronic vote will be held.
He will serve out Ms Rousseff's term in office, which is due to end on 1 January 2019.
If a simple majority of the Senators vote in favour, Ms Rousseff will face an impeachment trial.
She will be suspended from office for the duration of the trial, which could last up to 180 days.
The trial will be presided over by the head of the Supreme Court, Ricardo Lewandowski.
At the end of the trial, the full Senate will vote on whether they find Ms Rousseff guilty or innocent.
If two-thirds of the Senate find her guilty, she will be removed from the presidency permanently and barred from running for public office for eight years.
What are the key numbers?
In the Senate, more than half of the Senators will have to back the impeachment trial for it to go ahead.
There are a total of 81 Senators, but Senate Speaker Renan Calheiros is only expected to cast his vote if there is a tie.
If the impeachment trial proceeds, it will take 54 senators to impeach Ms Rousseff.
Who would replace Ms Rousseff if she was impeached?
Under the Brazilian constitution, Vice-President Temer is set to take over as interim president if Ms Rousseff is suspended.
However, Mr Temer himself is also facing impeachment proceedings over the same allegations of manipulating government accounts as Ms Rousseff.
The second-in-line to take over from her was until recently House Speaker Eduardo Cunha, who is being investigated over allegations of taking millions of dollars in bribes.
But on 5 May, Mr Cunha was suspended from his post for allegedly intimidating members of Congress and obstructing a corruption investigation against him.
Next in line is Renan Calheiros, head of the Senate. But he, too, is under investigation in connection with a massive corruption scandal at state-oil company Petrobras.
All three, who are from the PMDB party, deny the allegations against them.
Could it all just go away?
Yes, if fewer than half of the Senators vote for the impeachment trial on 11 May, the proceedings stop and Ms Rousseff remains in power.
Also, if the trial proceeds and she is found not guilty, she will return to office.
She will also have a chance to appeal should the Senate impeach her, which she has already said she plans on doing should the process go that far and the vote go against her.
