LatinNews Daily - 07 August 2020 |
PERU: Vizcarra names new prime minister |
On 6 August, Peru’s President Martín Vizcarra appointed Walter Martos as his new prime minister. Analysis: Martos becomes Peru’s third prime minister in less than a month, after Pedro Cateriano was forced to resign, along with the entire cabinet of ministers, after the country’s congress denied the cabinet (only appointed on 15 July) an inaugural vote of confidence on 4 August. While 15 out of 19 ministers were yesterday reappointed by Vizcarra, Martos will nonetheless have to submit the cabinet to another confidence vote. Under normal circumstances, a second rejection would allow Vizcarra to dissolve congress, but this is constitutionally prohibited in the final year of the legislature’s term; the pressure is therefore on Vizcarra and Martos to appease congress, despite only minimal changes to the rejected cabinet, to avoid launching a constitutional crisis in the midst of the country’s economic and health emergencies.
Looking Ahead: The early signs, however, suggest that the executive is still reluctant to compromise; Martos’ first contribution as prime minister was to rule out a return to stricter quarantine measures, citing the urgent need for economic reactivation, while Vizcarra was once again highly critical of congress, calling on legislators to “leave behind disputes that do not contribute to the well-being of the country". |