OREANDA-NEWS. Brazilian president Dilma Rousseff has nominated Marco Ant?nio Martins Almeida to replace Eduardo Braga as the minister of energy and mines (MME), one of the cabinet posts she has been forced to fill as politicians square off ahead of an impeachment vote.

Almeida was the executive secretary of MME before being picked to replace Braga, who resigned from his post on 20 April. Almeida is seen as a close ally of Rousseff and has been vocal in his support of rules that obligate state-controlled Petrobras to hold a 30pc operating stake in sub-salt projects.

Rousseff has also nominated Maur?cio Muniz to replace ports minister Helder Barbalho, who resigned at the same time as Braga.

Braga and Barbalho are both members of Brazil's Democratic Movement Party (PMDB), the former coalition partner of Rousseff's Workers' Party (PT).

After exiting the coalition in March, the PMDB is now corralling support for vice president Michel Temer, the PMDB politician that would replace Rousseff if the senate decided to initiate an impeachment trial.

If the senate decides to start the trial, as it is expected to do in mid-May, Rousseff will be forced to temporarily cede power to Temer while the senate deliberates for up to six months. If the 81-member senate approves the impeachment by a two-thirds vote, Temer will serve until the end of Rousseff's term in 2018.

On 17 April, Brazil's lower house voted to send an impeachment request to the senate based on claims Rousseff violated fiscal responsibility laws by fiddling with federal accounts in 2014, claims she denies.

Rousseff has called the impeachment a coup and vowed to fight proceedings against her until the end, prolonging a deep sense of uncertainty that has rattled Brazil's oil sector.

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