On 9 November, Peru’s President Martín Vizcarra was removed from office after the country’s congress voted to impeach him on the grounds of ‘moral incapacity’.
Analysis:
Prominent politicians, private sector lobbies, and public opinion polls had all registered opposition to the prospect of Vizcarra’s impeachment in the days leading up to the vote. And yet, Peru’s legislators ultimately voted decisively for his departure. This difference in opinion was centred not so much on the corruption claims that formed the basis for Vizcarra’s impeachment trial – few have disputed the seriousness of the bribery allegations, nor the need to investigate them – but instead on the rationality of removing the president from office in the midst of the coronavirus (Covid-19) pandemic and just five months before a general election in which he had no intention of running. While Vizcarra has accepted the decision, a broader backlash seems likely, with legislators variously facing accusations of seeking to delay next April’s vote, or to shield themselves from corruption allegations of their own.
- Vizcarra ascended to the presidency in March 2018 after his predecessor Pedro Pablo Kuczynski (2016-2018) – under whom Vizcarra served as vice president – resigned amid moves to impeach him. A hostile relationship between the legislature and the executive has dominated Vizcarra’s time in office, as he was forced to dissolve the previous congress in September 2019, and survived a first impeachment attempt from the new set of legislators (elected in January) just two months ago.
- In that first attempt, support for impeachment collapsed at the final hurdle, with just 32 out of 130 legislators voting to remove Vizcarra, well short of the two-thirds majority of 87 required. On this occasion the trend was reversed, as while just 60 legislators had backed the launch of proceedings last week, a landslide 105 yesterday voted to impeach, with just one out of nine parties (the centrist Partido Morado) voting universally in Vizcarra’s favour, accompanied by a handful of legislators from other parties.
- As Vizcarra never named a vice president, the president of congress – Manuel Merino of the centrist Acción Popular (AP) – will be sworn in today (10 November) as his replacement. AP party leader, Mesías Guevara, was among those to condemn the impeachment, which 17 of the party’s 24 legislators voted for. Several of the frontrunners for next year’s presidential contest have also been quick to offer criticism, reflecting a recognition of the widespread public opposition to the impeachment.
- After leaving congress, Vizcarra once again denied the allegations made against him, but insisted he would not mount a constitutional challenge to the decision, despite considerable speculation over whether congress’s application of the constitution’s ill-defined ‘moral incapacity’ justification for impeachment would stand up in court. He instead claimed that “history, and the Peruvian people, will judge the decisions that each of us take”.
Looking Ahead: Early signs suggest that the Peruvian people will be less forgiving than Vizcarra himself, with spontaneous protests launched in several cities across the country in condemnation of this “coup”. Merino has insisted that neither he nor congress have any intention of delaying next year’s election, but as things stand, those who backed Vizcarra’s impeachment look likely to be punished at the ballot box.
