(CNN) Brazil's first female president is out of a job, but not barred from the ballot if she wants to run again.

The South American country's Senate voted 61-20 Wednesday to remove President Dilma Rousseff from office, finding her guilty of breaking budgetary laws in an impeachment trial.

Temer, 75, inherits a tattered economy, along with the keys to the presidential palace in Brasilia, the nation's capital.

He met with his Cabinet and promised to tackle unemployment.

"I am not saying it is an easy task, since we have almost 12 million people unemployed in this country," he said, according to a CNN translation. "It's a scary number, and there is nothing less dignified than unemployment."

Photos: The rise and fall of Dilma Rousseff Freedom fighter – As young Marxist during Brazil's military dictatorship, Dilma Rousseff was charged by a military court with subversion and jailed in November 1970. Rousseff has said she was tortured with electrical shocks by her captors during her imprisonment. Hide Caption 1 of 6 Photos: The rise and fall of Dilma Rousseff Chief of staff – As former president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva's chief of staff, Rousseff took on several high-profile roles. She announced the discovery of Brazil's pre-salt oil reserves, which would have made the country self-sustainable and could have produced up to 100 billion barrels of oil. But the reserve, discovered in 2009, still remains untapped. Hide Caption 2 of 6 Photos: The rise and fall of Dilma Rousseff Presidential hopeful – Rousseff campaigning for the presidency in 2010. Hide Caption 3 of 6 Photos: The rise and fall of Dilma Rousseff President – Dilma Rousseff is sworn in to her first term on January 1, 2011, becoming Brazil's first female president. She's seen here with running mate Michel Temer, who has now succeeded her as president. Hide Caption 4 of 6 Photos: The rise and fall of Dilma Rousseff Fighting for political life – Rousseff gestures during her testimony during her impeachment trial at the National Congress in Brasilia on August 29, 2016. Hide Caption 5 of 6 Photos: The rise and fall of Dilma Rousseff Deposed – After the Senate voted for her impeachment, Rousseff was officially removed from office Wednesday afternoon. Hide Caption 6 of 6

A general election is scheduled for 2018.

Wednesday's vote marks the culmination of a contentious impeachment process that has dragged on for months. It's a political crisis that ordinary Brazilians could do well without as the country, which just hosted the Summer Olympics in Rio, is trying to pull itself out of recession.

The Senate's decision is a major blow for Rousseff, a member of the Workers' Party, but it might not mark the end of her political career.

While the vote to oust her from office was decisive, a motion to bar her from holding any public office for the next eight years failed.

Rousseff, 68, a former Marxist guerrilla, said earlier this week that she had committed no crime and said she was proud she'd been "faithful to my commitment to the nation."

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Sen. Lindbergh Farias of the Workers' Party made an impassioned plea against Rousseff's impeachment.

"This is a farce. This is a pretext. This is absolutely irrelevant. There are two types of senators, the one that know there was no crime of responsibility and vote against the impeachment and those that know there was no crime of responsibility and vote in favor," he said, shouting from the Senate floor.

Sen. Ronaldo Caiado of the Democrats argued that Rousseff should be ousted, arguing that lawmakers weren't the ones behind the impeachment process.

"It began because 90% of the population has said loudly, no more (Workers' Party)," he said.

In May, Rousseff called the impeachment proceedings an attempt at a power grab by her rivals. She said her government has long been the target of political sabotage.

"When Brazil or when a president is impeached for a crime that they have not committed, the name we have for this in democracy -- it's not an impeachment, it is a coup," she said after the Senate voted to launch the proceedings.

The heir-apparent to former President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, Rousseff was re-elected by a narrow margin in 2014, but a recession and a cross-party corruption scandal put an end to any political goodwill she might have earned, eventually leading to her ouster.

A statement from the spokesman for Ban Ki-moon said the UN Secretary-General had "taken note" of the impeachment process and Temer's swearing in.