BRASÍ LIA—Brazil's suspended president, Dilma Rousseff, began testimony Monday in her Senate impeachment trial during the final phase of a process that is widely expected to end with her ouster.

Ms. Rousseff is accused of violating budget laws by delaying government payments to a state-controlled bank, in effect forcing the lender to provide her administration with allegedly illegal short-term loans that made the country's budget situation appear better than it was. Ms. Rousseff has denied wrongdoing.

Two-thirds, or 54, of the Senate's 81 lawmakers need to vote against her for her to be ousted. Any less than that and she'll be immediately returned to office.

The beleaguered president was suspended from office in mid-May, when the Senate voted to hold the trial that is now in its final stage. Her vice president, Michel Temer, has been acting president since then, and will finish out the two years and four months remaining in her term if she is convicted.

The decision is widely expected to go against the president. In a procedural vote earlier this month that would have ended the process had it gone in favor of Mr. Rousseff, 59 senators voted to approve a report calling for her removal and 21 voted against it.

"From a market standpoint, the impeachment of President Dilma should be close to fully priced," said Alberto Ramos, an economist at Goldman Sachs Group Inc.

Ms. Rousseff arrived at the Senate carrying roses and accompanied by her predecessor and mentor, President Luiz Iná cio Lula da Silva, who faces legal problems of his own stemming from accusations he personally benefited from the bid-rigging and bribery scandal at state-controlled oil company Petró leo Brasileiro SA, or Petrobras. Mr. da Silva has denied wrongdoing.

When they entered the Senate through its crowded main entrance, a group of supporters, including senators from Ms. Rousseff's Workers' Party, shouted chants in her favor.

A small crowd also gathered on the broad boulevard in front of the Senate. The long mall that is the center point of this modern capital has been divided in half lengthwise by a fence intended to separate Ms. Rousseff's supporters from her detractors.

Ms. Rousseff has long contended that the impeachment proceedings amount to an attempted coup d'é tat by her political enemies determined to overturn her close re-election in 2014 and turn back her and Mr. da Silva's anti-poverty efforts.

Write to Paulo Trevisani at paulo.trevisani@wsj.com

 

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

August 29, 2016 09:25 ET (13:25 GMT)

Copyright (c) 2016 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
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