(Lima) The opposition-dominated Parliament of Peru began debates on Monday on the impeachment procedure initiated against President Pedro Castillo for “moral incapacity”, before a vote scheduled for the end of the day.
Posted yesterday at 5:47 p.m.
This is the second parliamentary rebellion faced by the left-wing president elected last July.
In December, the unicameral Parliament rejected a similar initiative whose outcome on Monday is equally uncertain because the opposition does not have the 87 votes required by the Constitution to impeach a president.
Of the 130 parliamentarians, the right-wing opposition can bring together around 80 in its fold. The Marxist presidential party Peru libre (37 elected) and related form a group of 50 parliamentarians.
The opposition accuses President Castillo of having intervened in an alleged corruption affair operated by his entourage and of having committed “treason” by declaring himself open to a referendum on an outlet to the Pacific Ocean for the landlocked Bolivian neighbor .
She also blames him for the repeated ministerial crises and the formation of four governments in eight months, something unprecedented in Peru.
The parliamentary session opened with questions to President Castillo dressed in a traditional gray Andean costume with the red and white presidential sash.
He deemed the motion brought against him “invalid” because “it does not contain a single element that validly supports it”, considering that it is reduced to “a compilation of versions from a sector of the press”, sub- heard close to the opposition.
He then left the hemicycle and his lawyer, José Félix Palomino, defended him: “there is no evidence that directly links the president to any act of corruption”, he said.
Outside the Legislative Building, pro and anti Castillo rallies formed.
If Mr. Castillo is removed from office, he will be replaced by his vice-president, Dina Boluarte, but if she resigns in stride, it will be up to the head of parliament, Maria del Carmen Alva, to take over the presidency.
This is the sixth impeachment motion by the Peruvian Parliament for “moral incapacity” against a sitting president since 2017, after Pedro Pablo Kuczynski (right) in 2018 and Martin Vizcarra (center) in 2020.
The eviction of Mr. Vizcarra had triggered violently repressed demonstrations which left two dead and a hundred injured. His departure had led Peru to have three presidents in five days.
This clash of powers between the executive and the legislature, a constant in Peru, has aroused the concern of the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC), which calls for respect for the “will of the people”.
A poll by the Ipsos Institute published on Monday reveals that 79% of Peruvians disapprove of the obstructive actions of Parliament, although distrust of President Castillo remains very strong (66%).