For the second time since the beginning of his legislature on July 28, 2021, Peruvian President Pedro Castillo faces the debate in Congress that decided to continue with the process of removing the president under the formula of permanent moral incapacity, recurring in the Andean country and that has already served to expel two other leaders of the Executive in the last four years.
The future of Pedro Castillo’s legislature is once again in question. Since his arrival at the Casa de Pizarro, the presidential seat, at the end of July last year, the leftist leader of Peru Libre has once again faced a motion of censure after the failed December attempt at impeachment led by the opposition.
Deputy Jorge Montoya, of the opposition Renovación Popular caucus, announced on March 8 the processing of a new vacancy procedure due to permanent moral incapacity to expel Castillo, whose admission it was approved today in the Chamber by 76 votes in favor, 41 against and one abstention.
The initial petition had 49 favorable signatures, which allowed it to proceed to the next stage: the debate on the substantive arguments, which concluded today, March 14, in plenary session, so that the procedure continues next Monday, March 28 at 3 pm in the afternoon.
With 76 votes in favor, 41 against and 1 abstention, the #Congress Plenum approved the admission of Motion 2148, which proposes declaring the permanent moral incapacity of the President of the Republic, @PedroCastilloTe. pic.twitter.com/4pGDwbi1on
– Congress of Peru 🇵🇪 (@congresoperu) March 14, 2022
Castillo or his lawyer will have to appear at the legislative headquarters to explain the 20 reasons that the opposition wields are sufficient to dismiss him.
Among them are the statements of Karelim López, the lobbyist who aspires to be an effective collaborator before the Prosecutor’s Office for a possible money laundering scandal. Her testimony would involve the head of state in an alleged corrupt plot in the Ministry of Transport and Communications.
The opposition maintained that the president had incurred in alleged crimes of procedural fraud and falsehood and pointed to the president’s contradictions during the investigation.
Likewise, the complaints of former members of its Executive about the existence of a “shadow cabinet” or the alleged crimes of collusion and influence peddling aggravated by the bidding for public works are also other reasons that motivated the start of the process of vacancy.
President Castillo, in parallel, decided to request a public appearance before Congress in order to postpone the debate of the session on Monday, March 14, something that was approved by the Board of Spokespersons with the support of several parliamentary groups but that , however, did not delay the time on the issue that could compromise his political future in the coming weeks.
Castillo’s intervention before Congress is scheduled for 5 pm tomorrow, where the leader of the Executive will convey a message to the Legislative.
For its part, the Congress decided that it will be on Monday, March 28, at 3 in the afternoon when either the President or his lawyer will appear to answer the questions of the legislators, in the session where they will debate and vote. the possible impeachment of Castillo.
The vacancy motion is a process that has already served to expel other leaders in recent years.
Vacancy due to moral incapacity, a well-known formula in Peru
For a president to be relegated from his functions under the formula of permanent moral incapacity, he must have at least 87 of the 130 votes of Congress in favor of said legislative proposal.
This resource became the star of part of Peruvian politics in recent years, since the previous president, Martín Vizcarra, was dismissed through this motion on November 10, 2020 after accusations of alleged corruption during his time as governor of Moquegua (2011-2014), a department in the south of the country.
In his case, he garnered 105 votes in favor of his dismissal, 19 against and 4 abstentions.
After the end of Vizcarra’s mandate, Peru was plunged into a process of deep political instability that led to protests in the streets of the main cities and that resulted in three presidents in one week.
It was Francisco Sagasti, of the Purple Party, who finally took over as temporary leader until last spring’s elections that ended with the victory of Pedro Castillo, whose government could have its days numbered.
The end of the mandate of Vizcarra’s predecessor, Pedro Pablo Kuczynski, known as PPK, was also marked by two vacancy processes requested from his links with the Odebrecht corruption plot and the pardon of Alberto Fujimori.
The day before the vote in the second impeachment process against him, PPK decided to resign from his position through a televised message so that “Neither the homeland nor his family continues to suffer from the uncertainty of recent times”according to CNN.
Castillo and a convulsive legislature
Since the beginning of his legislature on July 28, 2021, the leader of the Executive has been involved in successive controversies and government crises that have diminished his popularity.
In fact, according to a national survey conducted by the Ipsos pollster, 53% of the Peruvian population would agree with Castillo’s resignation after his alleged links to corruption scandals.
“I am learning every day”commented the President in different interviews during the first months at the head of Peru.
This would not have been seen with good eyes neither among the opposition nor among its coalition partners, since it would denote a lack of experience at a crucial moment for the country, in the midst of the health and economic crisis derived from the pandemic and with a complex panorama political, mired in endemic instability.
His government has already started in a controversial way, since Castillo was not even able to present a complete cabinet due to the apparent resignation of several ministers who were scheduled for the position.
The instability within his Executive, as well as the constant controversies that surrounded both him and members of his cabinet, have marked his agenda in these first months of the legislature.
Likewise, last week he presented his fourth government team in seven months, which was approved before the same Congress that will vote on his possible dismissal in the near future. That cabinet had planned its vote of confidence before the Legislature next week, something that is also up in the air at the moment.
With information from EFE, Reuters and local media
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