Brazil's president Dilma Rousseff was impeached by the Senate following an epic debate in the chamber until overnight.

Senators voted 55-22 in an electronic ballot, leading to Rousseff's suspension and trial.

Rousseff was elected as the the country's first woman president in 2011. She has earlier failed to stop proceedings at the country's Supreme Court prior to the impeachment trial.

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Vice President Michel Temer, meanwhile, will take over the government as acting president until the trial ends.

Temer, 75, is the leader of the PMDB party.

The trial is expected to last up to 180 days. This means the trial might still be going on when then 2016 Rio de Janeiro Summer Olympic Games take off.

The trial will result to whether or not Rousseff should be removed from presidency or not.

Rousseff is accused of illegally controlling public finances before her 2014 re-election.

Brazil's economy plunged to record lows and the impeachment is believed to be the climax of political turmoil that erupted after a scandal involving illegal financial transactions at the state-owned oil firm, Petrobas.

Rousseff's supporters in the senate called her impeachment as a coup d'etat of the old guards who want to regain control of the government. They threatened to organize strikes and demonstrations in support of the president.

"The Brazilian elite, the ruling class, which keeps treating this county as if it was their hereditary dominion, does not appreciate democracy," Humberto Costa, leader of Rousseff's left wing Worker's Party in the senate.

The opposition meanwhile is resolved in implicating Rouseff in the scandal, believing that Brazil's socio-economic woes will only end once she is removed from office.

 "Did anyone think that we would get to 2018 with a recovery under this government? Impossible. The impeachment is just the start of the reconstruction," former opposition presidential candidate Jose Serra, said, AP reports.

TagsBrazil, Dilma Rousseff, Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff