Think of Brazil and maybe you think of football. 

As the impeachment vote is being held on a Sunday afternoon (prime family TV-watching time) and politicians are wearing colours to show which side they're on, some commentators are comparing it to a football match.

Many MPs say they are voting in favour of the impeachment proceedings because of their family. Others say they are acting on behalf "of the Brazilian people", who they say are in favour of the motion going to the Senate.

MPs are laying out their reasons for voting for or against the motion. 

Both sides are claiming they are acting to safeguard democracy. 

The Washington Post, external says tonight's vote is not just about ousting Dilma Rousseff - it is an "ideological battle for the political soul of the country".

The newspaper interviews left-wing young people and indigenous activists who say their lives have improved under Workers' Party rule - and right-wing protesters who support liberal pro-business policies, and believe Rousseff's party engaged in corruption to further its real aim of staying in power.

So far, 25 MPs have cast their votes. Twenty-one have voted in favour and 4 against the impeachment motion going to the Senate.

Gary Duffy, formerly of the BBC in Brazil, tweets that the first Congressman to vote has a medical condition and needed to return to hospital after voting.

MPs are taking their turns voting. So far, 11 MPs have voted in favour and three against the impeachment proceedings going ahead.

Lawmakers in Brazil's lower house of Congress have started voting. Washington Reis of the PMDB party was the first one to vote. He voted in favour of the impeachment proceedings going ahead. 

House Speaker Eduardo Cunha urges MPs to stick to the 10 seconds alloted for each vote.

The final speeches in a boisterous session of parliament have finished and the vote is about to start.

Staggering statistic from Brazilian watchdog Congresso em Foco - more than 300 of those who will vote on Ms Rousseff's future are under investigation for corruption, fraud or electoral crimes.

The Washington Post's Brazil correspondent tweets...

Whatever happens in the vote, Brazil's political crisis seems far from over. Here is what one pro-government protester said as he rallied against impeachment.

This session is of course being closely followed in the world's press. Here's what some foreign reporters in Brazil are making of it.

Police are keeping the pro- and anti-government camps well apart to avoid any clashes. Large areas near the Congress building have been cordoned off.

The leader of the centre-left Democratic Workers' Party (PDT), Weverton Rocha, has given his backing to the president. He said his party would "defend the constitution" and would vote against the impeachment proceedings.

BBC Monitoring, which reports and analyses news from TV, radio, web and print media around the world, says that Brazil's major TV networks are providing live coverage of the session. 

Large screens have been erected in a number of major cities to allow pro- and anti-impeachment protesters to watch the vote. 

Image source, AFP

The leader of the Brazilian Social Democracy Party (PSDB) in the lower house, Antonio Imbassahy, wants the impeachment proceedings to go ahead. In 2014, President Rousseff narrowly beat PSDB candidate Aecio Neves to the presidency. 

Mr Imbassahy told fellow MPs that Brazil needed "moral reconstruction".

Brazil's main newspapers have been asking MPs about their voting intentions. O Globo, external says 350 MPs will vote in favour, eight more than the 342 votes needed to send the motion to the Senate. 

Estadao, external also puts the number of those in favour at 350.

Folha de S Paulo, external puts that figure slightly lower. It thinks 349 MPs will back the impeachment proceedings.