Brazil's lower house begins impeachment debate

The debate kicked off in Brazil's lower Chamber of Deputies on Friday with pro-impeachment lawmakers chanting: "Dilma Out."

"It's calm but I don't think it will continue that way until Sunday," House Speaker Eduardo Cunha told reporters. He is heading the charge to remove Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff, despite facing serious corruption charges himself.

"It will go on till Sunday night and probably beyond for people who signed up (to speak). This is a historic process, there's no doubt," Cunha added.

Brazil's lower house lawmakers will decide in a vote on Sunday whether or not to impeach Rousseff on charges of manipulating budget accounts.

Rousseff has maintained her innocence, saying "the government will fight until the last minute of the second half... to foil this coup attempt."

Earlier on Friday, the Supreme Court rejected a last-ditch bid to suspend the impeachment proceedings.

The country's largest political party in the lower house, the Brazilian Democratic Movement Party (PMDB), said a majority of their members will vote to impeach Rousseff on Sunday.

PMDB leader Leonardo Picciani told reporters on Thursday that 90 percent of his 68-member caucus are set to cast their ballots to oust Rousseff.

The lower Chamber of Deputies has the power to put a stop to the impeachment proceedings, but in the increasingly likely case that they vote in favor of impeachment, Rousseff will face a trial in the Senate.

rs/kms (AP, AFP, Reuters)