Dilma Rousseff's impeachment vote annulled

The impeachment process against Brazil President Dilma Rousseff was halted after Waldir Maranhao, the acting speaker of the country's lower house, annulled a vote in the house.

The vote in the house which allows the proceedings to go on to the Senate came as a surprise to many and was immediately challenged by senior figures in the senate.

Just days before the senate was expected to adopt the motion and suspend Rousseff, Maranhao , who took over as the acting speaker last week, said the vote needed to be rerun due to procedural flaws, reports the Guardian.

Maranhao said that there had been irregularities during the lower house session in which its members overwhelmingly voted in favour of the impeachment process going ahead.

The members of the lower house should not have publicly announced what their position was prior to the vote and that it had been wrong on the part of party leaders to instruct their members how to vote, he added.

Maranhao, a previously obscure politician from the Progressive Party, called for a new vote in the lower house.

The President of the Senate impeachment commission also said that the vote would take place as scheduled.

The Senate is scheduled to vote tomorrow on whether to start an impeachment trial or not.