Peru’s opposition-dominated Congress on Thursday passed a non-binding motion calling for the resignation of leftist President Pedro Castillo.amid tensions over protests over price hikes.
After more than an hour of debate, the plenary session approved the motion presented by opposition legislator Rosselli Amuruz, from the right-wing party Avanza País, by 61 votes, 43 against and one abstention.
(Also read: Peru declares a state of emergency in the road network due to the trucker strike)
The merely symbolic motion was voted on 10 days after radical right-wing opponents in Congress failed in their attempt to remove Castillo from office in a lightning impeachment trial, getting only 55 votes out of the 87 needed.
“Presidential vacancy” motions have become customary in Peru and caused the fall of presidents Pedro Pablo Kuczynski (right) in 2018 and Martín Vízcarra (center) in 2020. Since December 2017, Congress has debated six initiatives of this type.
The motion approved this Thursday is merely an exhortation to resign, a tendency of the parliamentary majority.
(Also: Who would take power in Peru in case of a resignation of the President?)
The document is not binding, and therefore does not oblige the president to resign
“This means that the document is not binding, and therefore does not oblige the president to resign.. It is a political gesture with no real effect,” highlighted the portal of the Lima newspaper La República.
Tension has been growing in Peru since Monday, when residents upset over rising fuel and food prices sparked protests in Lima, Ica and other regions, the first that Castillo, a 52-year-old rural teacher, has faced since he took office. power eight months ago.
In response to the protests, the president unexpectedly decreed a daytime curfew on Tuesday in Lima and the neighboring port of Callao, which together are home to 10 million people, almost a third of the Peruvian population.
(Keep reading: Demonstrations in Peru: ABC of the protests against Pedro Castillo)The curfew was repudiated by large sectors of the population and triggered new protests in Lima demanding his resignation.
On Wednesday, a 25-year-old farm worker involved in the blockade of the Pan-American highway was killed in clashes with police in Ica, 300 km south of Lima, and 15 others were injured.
The head of state headed this Thursday a decentralized council of ministers in the city of Huancayo, which was the focus last week of the transporters’ protests.
In Huancayo, Castillo apologized for statements in which he stated that “some leaders and ringleaders” had been paid to carry out the truckers’ strike that began ten days ago and encouraged the population to take to the streets to protest peacefully.
The clashes between the Legislative and Executive began in 2016 and led Peru to have three presidents in five days, in November 2020.
AFP and EFE
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