Dilma Rousseff impeachment: Brazilian president says move is sexist; shows increasing presence of evangelical Christians in the country?

Brazil's lower house has voted to impeach president Dilma Rousseff for allegedly manipulating government funds, and this is seen as a rising influence of evangelical Christians in a dominantly Catholic country.

"During the last roll call vote for the continuation of the process of impeachment in the lower house ... several politicians dedicated their vote 'for God,'" said Karina Bellotti, professor of contemporary history at the Federal University of Paraná in Brazil, as quoted by The Christian Science Monitor. "Some of them were Catholic – but most were Evangelical, from the Pentecostal churches."

The impeachment was led by lower house speaker Eduardo Cunha, a Pentecostal Christian. He is the second in line to the presidency next to Vice President Michel Temer, a Maronite Christian, should Rousseff be ousted from office.

Belloti said that in the past 30 years, the presence of evangelicals in the Brazilian government has increased. The president's impeachment shows what the CSM report calls "a coming-of-age for Evangelical Christians," although it does not mean that there will be change in how they live in the country.

"People usually don't feel represented by these politicians once they take their positions, and there is the sensation that there's 'nothing we can do,'" Bellotti explained. "But in the everyday life ... Evangelicals are on the rise (at least for now) in the society because of lay and clerical efforts of evangelization and social insertion."

According to the CIA World Factbook, 64.6 percent of the population in Brazil identify themselves as Roman Catholic while Protestants comprise 22.2 percent of the population.

However, Rousseff sees the impeachment as sexist. According to Newsweek, the president said that the male-dominated lower house has singled her out partly because she's a woman. There are only 45 women in the Chamber of Deputies out of 513.

"There has been, mixed in all of this, a large amount of prejudice against women," Rousseff said at a news conference, as quoted by Newsweek. "There are attitudes toward me that there would not be with a male president."

Rousseff is accused of misusing government funds, but she pointed out that many of her political opponents are facing criminal charges for corruption. She reportedly named Cunha, who is facing charges for money laundering and corruption; while Temer, she said, was conspiring against her. According to watchdog Congresso em Foco, more than 50 percent of those who voted to have her impeached are under investigation for electoral crimes, graft, or fraud.

Rouseff called the impeachment a "coup" and said, "This is an attempt to have an indirect presidential election by a group of people who would otherwise never be elected."

Following the decision of the Congress, the impeachment now moves on the Senate. If the opposition gets a majority vote, Rousseff will be suspended and a trial will start.