[News] Congressional request to remove Peru's president weakens, political leaders against

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The request of the opposition Congress to remove President Martín Vizcarra weakened on Sunday, after political leaders and voiced presidential candidates came out to reject the initiative that would aggravate the crisis in the mining country.

The first to appear was the head of the party that has the second force in Congress and possible presidential candidate, César Acuña, at a time when several local authorities have also come out to urge the continuity of Vizcarra with seven months to go before the general elections .

Vizcarra, who has no representation in Congress, cannot run because immediate reelection is prohibited.

Congress voted on Friday in favor of initiating a political trial against Vizcarra accusing him of "moral incapacity", amid investigations of alleged irregular hiring in the Government, and against the background of an economic recession and health collapse with more than 722,000 cases of coronavirus - the fifth highest figure in the world - and more than 30,500 deaths.

Vizcarra, who accuses Congress of a conspiracy, was summoned to parliament to deliver his defense on Friday. The impeachment of the President was approved by 65 votes. 87 votes of the 130 legislators are required for his removal.

Acuña's party, the right-wing populist group Alianza para el Progreso, contributed 21 votes to approve the vacancy request of the centrist Vizcarra, who assumed the presidency in March 2018 after the resignation of Pedro Pablo Kuczynski, amid allegations of corruption by part of Congress.

"It would be absolutely unnecessary and impertinent to force a presidential vacancy by Congress, which could only aggravate the ongoing political crisis and the health crisis," said Acuña, a businessman who owns an empire of several private universities, via Twitter on Saturday. in the afternoon.

Rivals in campaign

Other voiced presidential candidates such as Keiko Fujimori, leader of the third force in Congress; Julio Guzmán, of the centrist Purple Party; and the mayor of a populous district, George Forsythy, who leads the voting intentions, have come out to mark distance around the impeachment and ask that Vizcarra be investigated when his term ends.

"Until today, there are not enough elements or the necessary procedures to vacate the president," Fujimori - investigated for receiving contributions from the Brazilian Odebrecht in the previous election - said on Twitter on Sunday.

 

 

The government announced the day before that it will use all legal weapons to defend Vizcarra and that it will present a competition claim on the case to the Constitutional Court on Monday to stop the impeachment process.

Institutions such as the Ombudsman's Office have affirmed that there is a serious problem regarding the qualification of Congress by improperly using the figure of the presidential vacancy.

In addition, Prime Minister Walter Martos, accused the head of Congress, Manuel Merino, of trying to involve the Armed Forces in the request for the removal of President Vizcarra, in a statement surrounded by high command of the Army, Navy and Air Force of Peru in Government palace.

Merino would replace Vizcarra if the vacancy progresses.

“I repudiate the unacceptable acts of the old political class. The coup plotters cannot return, the Armed Forces defend the constitutional order, not personal or partisan interest, ”said the voiced candidate Forsyth, a former soccer goalkeeper.

On Saturday, the presidents of Colombia, Ecuador and Bolivia, members of the Andean community, said that the events in Peru threaten the stability and governance of the world's second largest copper producer.

The Congress with representatives from the left, the right and radical groups was elected in January to complete the legislative term until July 2021, after Vizcarra dissolved the previous Parliament last year amid a fight with the opposition over his anti-corruption reforms.