Peru’s Congress ignored President Pedro Castillo’s order to dissolve parliament and approved the populist politician’s vacancy motion. The president of the House summoned the deputy, Dina Boluarte, to take office as president this Wednesday afternoon (7).
The vacancy motion passed with 101 votes in favor, 6 against and 10 abstentions. 87 votes were needed for approval.
Earlier, Castillo announced that he would dissolve Parliament and bring forward elections in Peru. He also decreed a state of exception, saying he would maintain the current economic model in the country during the period in which Congress was dissolved. The president anticipated the session scheduled for this Wednesday in which Parliament met to analyze his third dismissal process.
At first, the vacancy motion appeared to pose no real threat to Castillo’s tenure. The leader of the Perú Libre party, Wladimir Cerrón, for which the president was elected but maintained a conflicting relationship, said that he was hasty. “There weren’t enough votes for the vacancy,” he wrote on Twitter.
Earlier in the day, the vacancy motion garnered 73 votes out of the 87 needed for approval. But, with the president’s announcement that he would dissolve Parliament, the measure against him gained strength and was subsequently confirmed.
According to the newspapers El Comercio and La Republica, Castillo turned himself in at a police station in the capital, Lima. The information has not yet been officially confirmed by the authorities.
The dissolution of Congress is a valid instrument in the Peruvian system, as long as Parliament has rejected at least two votes of confidence in the president. Pedro Castillo has been facing a permanent crisis since he assumed the Presidency, just over a year and a half ago.
This Wednesday, Parliament met to analyze the politician’s third dismissal process, and the announcement about the dissolution took place hours before the debate — in which Castillo’s impeachment was approved.
The leftist leader’s pronouncement triggered an acute political crisis in the country, with the opposition and even the vice president denouncing what they call a coup d’état. Castillo’s move was also criticized by foreign representations. US Ambassador to Peru Lisa Kenna said Washington “emphatically urges the President to reverse his intention to close Parliament and allow democratic institutions to function in accordance with the Constitution.”
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