The Peruvian Congress decided this Tuesday (28) to reject President Pedro Castillo Terrones’ request for a vacancy. Vacancy is a kind of impeachment —albeit a distinct legal figure— that points to the “moral inability” to govern. 55 parliamentarians were in favor and 54 against; 87 votes were needed to remove the president, out of a total of 130.
This was the second vacancy motion faced by Castillo. In the first, in December, the necessary votes were not reached either. Since taking office, the administration has been marked by a tough confrontation between the Executive and the Legislative, whose main reflection was the ministerial changes: not to mention occasional changes, for different reasons, Castillo had to form four cabinets, the most recent of which was approved by Congress in the last day 9.
The vacancy motion analyzed on Monday, in a long session, was presented by the opponent Jorge Montoya, from the far-right Popular Renovation party, with a series of new accusations against the president. Among them, that of favoring a company for the contract to build a bridge worth US$ 61 million — the concession had already been canceled in January for violating the rules of state contracting.
Another accusation came from an investigation by the Prosecutor’s Office that points to the existence of a parallel ministerial cabinet, made up of congressmen close to Castillo’s family, to speed up bids and favor certain businessmen. The complaint was made by lobbyist Karelim López.
The motion also included the accusation that Castillo had carried out promotions of the military in an irregular manner — another case that is under investigation by the Public Ministry.
In his defense presentation earlier in the session, the president said that some of the charges listed are speculation and, because they are under investigation, could not be used to base a vacancy claim “until there is a judicial conclusion.” Others he qualified as “fabrications”.
Surveys carried out by the CPI institute in recent weeks indicated that 82.7% of Peruvians were in favor of the joint resignation of Parliament in the event of the approval of Castillo’s vacancy, for the call of new elections. The leftist leader has the approval of 18% of the population, and Congress, 14%.
Ipsos figures indicated that half of Peruvians preferred that he resign — when considering Lima residents, the proportion reaches 70%.
The legal form of the vacancy motion has been questioned because of the number of times it has been used in recent years. The article of the Constitution that defines it started to be invoked at the beginning of the political crisis in which the country plunged from 2016 onwards. Martín Vizcarra, who succeeded him, of two others; he ended up away.
The mechanism presupposes the removal of the president from office in an “express” way, under the vague concept of “moral incapacity”. Peruvian constitutionalists say this would not apply to cases of corruption, as was the case of PPK (as he is known), involved in the scandal of Brazilian construction company Odebrecht.
Last Friday, the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights also questioned the repeated use of the vacancy appeal.
“The vacancy of Vizcarra, the fleeting presidency of [Manuel] Merino, another politician mired in corruption, and the need to patch things up as the streets turned against politicians took a heavy toll,” he told sheet political analyst Rosa María Palacios. “It became clear that the vacancy is very destabilizing for the country. In this sense, I see Peruvian politics paralyzed at this moment.”
Today, however, even with the president’s waning popularity, the scene on the streets is different. “There are no movements calling for Castillo’s resignation or removal, things are gradually improving in the popular economy, with the return to work of those who were informal”, he says. She points out that, if the allegations of corruption are confirmed, the ideal would be for Congress to consider a formal impeachment process.
Peru’s macro scenario today is better than it was two years ago. The South American economy hardest hit by the pandemic, the country saw its GDP contract by 11% in 2020. The following year, it recovered and grew 10.3% for this 2022, according to the World Bank’s projection, to advance by 4.8 %. Unemployment has also declined, although the informality rate is still high, around 70%.
The Covid situation has also improved. Peru was one of the most impacted countries — there are more than 210,000 deaths so far — and suffered from terrible crises in the supply of oxygen, with collapses of health systems. Today, however, the moving average of deaths has decreased a lot and vaccination is progressing at a good pace: 70.2% of Peruvians have completed their first vaccination cycle.
