"A country with the world’s highest death toll per capita from the coronavirus is now also in political crisis, as lawmakers seek to oust President Martín Vizcarra over allegations of obstruction of justice".
New York Times (NYT)
https://news.yahoo.com/peru-congress-debates-removing-president-220543678.html
The move could result in a swift removal of Peru´s President from office
Peru’s congress voted on Friday to begin impeachment hearings. The political crisis was set off by the release in Congress on Thursday of audio recordings that appear to show the president instructing officials to lie.
According to the NYT , the impeachment is the latest battle in the protracted standoff between Mr. Vizcarra and a divided congress "hostile to his attempts to pass anti-corruption measures and change the country’s judicial and political system"... "If he is ousted, the current president of congress, Manuel Merino would become the president."
According to AlJazeera, "Peru's Martin Vizcarra faces impeachment for 'moral incapacity'..." under "allegations he tried to obstruct an investigation into nearly $50,000 in government contracts handed to a little-known singer"... "The Andean country is also in the throes of an economic crisis, with the pandemic slashing its second-quarter gross domestic product (GDP) by 30 percent."
According to the BBC, "He is accused of misusing public funds and then trying to cover this up."... "Mr. Vizcarra, aged 57, denies any wrongdoing and accuses Congress of staging a political coup."... "He is heard telling aides to downplay details of his office's hiring of a little-known singer, Richard Cisneros, to deliver pro-government motivational talks. Cisneros was reportedly paid $49,500 (£38,000)."
In September 2019, Mr Vizcarra dissolved Congress, arguing that lawmakers were obstructing his anti-corruption agenda.
A couple of years ago, independent political analysts had asserted: "Vizcarra’s Anti-Corruption Push Is Good for His Popularity, but Is It Good for Peru?". Elliot Waldman, in "World Politics Review" (2018) interviewed Julio Carrion, a professor at the University of Delaware and a close observer of Peruvian politics, for his assessment of the tumultuous situation in the Andean nation’s history.
“In the short term, Vizcarra is endorsing policies that are popular but that could have the unintended consequence of undermining Peru’s democracy because it will change the balance of power between the executive and Congress,” said Carrion.
It seems that is now the situation.
References:
Comments