A Brazilian congressional committee Monday recommended that President Dilma Rousseff face impeachment for alleged corruption.
The panel voted 38-27 in favor of the motion and will now send its recommendation to the entire lower house. A two-thirds majority is needed there for a trial in the Senate.
The lower house is expected to vote within a week and political observers say the outcome is too close to call.
Rousseff is accused of hiding the details of the poor state of the Brazilian economy to ensure her reelection in 2014.
Her supporters say the charges are part of a coup attempt by her vice president, Michel Temer, who has joined the pro-impeachment camp. But Temer is facing the same corruption charges as Rousseff.
Temer said Monday that a recording of a draft speech he plans to give if he takes over as president was released to the public by mistake. In it, he sounds as if he already has become president.
But Temer says there is nothing in the speech that he has not already said in public.
