Opponents cheer as Brazil is set to oust President Dilma Rousseff

Brazil’s leftist president Dilma Rousseff has suffered a humiliating loss in a crucial impeachment vote in the lower house of Congress and is almost certain to be forced from office months before the nation hosts the Olympics.

Fireworks lit up the night sky in Brazil’s megacities of Sao Paulo and Rio de Janeiro after the opposition comfortably surpassed the two-thirds majority needed to send Ms Rousseff for trial in the Senate on charges of manipulating budget accounts.

The floor of the lower house was a sea of Brazilian flags and pumping fists as dozens of lawmakers carried in their arms the deputy who cast the decisive 342nd vote, after three days of a marathon debate.