The Peruvian Parliament voted, Friday, September 11, to start an impeachment procedure against President Martin Vizcarra, after the dissemination of documents compromising him in a corruption case.
The motion, presented by several parties, had to obtain at least 52 votes to be adopted and trigger the formal impeachment procedure which must be voted on within four days. Of the 130 members, all of whom were not physically present or did not participate in the vote, 65 parliamentarians voted in favor of initiating the procedure, 36 against and 24 abstained.
During the formal vote, the date of which has not been fixed, 87 votes will be necessary to remove the head of state, who has no majority. Martin Vizcarra, in power since March 2018, will first have the opportunity to defend himself in Parliament. In the event of dismissal, the President of Parliament will act as interim until the end of the current term of office on July 28, 2021.
“The dismissal of the president, in these circumstances, seven months before the general elections in April, could turn out to be very hazardous”, warned political analyst Fernando Rospigliosi to Agence France-Presse, as the country is mired in a serious health and economic crisis due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
Contract of convenience
Mr. Vizcarra, who had taken the reins of the country after the resignation of his predecessor, Pedro Pablo Kuczynski, of which he was the vice-president, found himself by surprise in the hot seat. In question, the broadcast on Thursday before parliamentarians of an audio recording in which he is presented manipulating witnesses by asking them to hide the truth, in an investigation into a corruption case.
This case concerns the hiring in the midst of an epidemic due to the coronavirus of a singer by the Ministry of Culture, the justice suspecting the artist, of low notoriety, of having benefited from a contract of convenience.
During the debates, opposition parliamentarian José Vega declared that these recordings “Corroborate well” the alleged irregularities which Parliament has been investigating for months. Her leftist counterpart, Mirtha Vasquez, criticized wanting to “Seek to obtain an impeachment procedure while the investigation is still ongoing”.
President Vizcarra, who was visiting a laboratory where 6,000 Peruvians volunteer to test an anti-Covid-19 vaccine, asked parliamentarians “To analyze the situation with caution, with responsibility, and to take the decision they deem appropriate”.
“Conspiracy against democracy”
Thursday, after the broadcast of the recordings in the hemicycle, the Head of State was more incisive during a televised address: “I’m not going to resign, I’m not going to run away”, he had launched, considering himself the victim of a “Conspiracy against democracy”.
Prime Minister and retired former general Walter Martos added Friday, saying Parliament is preparing a “Coup d’etat because it makes an arbitrary interpretation of the Constitution”.
This political crisis comes as the executive and parliament clash over a government-led reform aimed at banning those sentenced to stand for election.
This motion is reminiscent of those presented against ex-President Kuczynski in December 2017 and March 2018, following a corruption scandal linked to the Brazilian construction company Odebrecht, which had led to his resignation.
This case also recalls the dismissal in November 2000 for “Permanent moral incapacity” of President Alberto Fujimori. The detonator was the broadcast, by a cable channel, of a video showing the head of the intelligence services, Vladimiro Montesinos, bribing an opposition parliamentarian to join the pro-Fujimori group in parliament.
Peru, which has experienced strong political instability in recent years, is one of the countries most affected by the coronavirus with more than 710,000 reported cases and more than 30,000 deaths, for a population of 33 million inhabitants.
Mr. Vizcarra, 57, has so far won popular support through his intransigence towards Parliament, unlike his predecessors, and his anti-corruption crusade, in a country where the last four presidents have had trouble. leave with justice.
