68-year-old Rousseff was handed a lifeline after Senate voted not to bar her from holding government office forthe next eight years. According to the constitution, an impeached president faces this ban, but Chief Justice Ricardo Lewandowski, presiding over the hearing, allowed a separate vote on the matter. 42 senators voted in favor of Rousseff, and 36 against, with three abstentions.

Conservative Vice-President Michel Temer, who has deputized for socialist Rousseff since her de facto ouster three months ago, is to be sworn in as president later on Wednesday, and will serve out the remaining two years of her term.

True to form, in her last speech Rousseff was defiant in the face of accusations, and made a futile call on the senators to “vote for democracy,” accusing her political opponents of staging a “coup.”

Rousseff’s lawyer immediately said she would appeal the impeachment through the Supreme Court.

Rousseff is the first Brazilian leader to be dismissed from office since 1992, when Fernando Collor de Mello resigned before a final vote in his impeachment trial for corruption.