LIMA (Reuters) – Peru’s Congress voted against the dismissal of President Martín Vizcarra in a political trial on Friday, calming political tensions in the copper giant amid an economic recession over the coronavirus pandemic.
The opposition-dominated Congress voted 32 votes in favor of the dismissal of Biscay, or 87 of the 130 needed to remove it for “moral incapacity” due to alleged links to a case of abnormal government contracts with a little-known group.
There were votes against the measure and 15 abstentions.
Congress voted last week to begin the trial process, but Vizcarra was expected to attend Friday’s vote after key opposition lawmakers distanced the other way from the plan to overthrow him despite anger over an economic crisis and a severe outbreak of coronavirus.
Vizcarra, who has no representation of his own party in the legislature, adopted a provocative tone the previous Friday in a 20-minute speech to Congress, saying that the country is not “distracted” from genuine challenges.
“I’m not hiding, I haven’t done it before and I’m not going to do it now. I’m here with my head up and clear,” said Vizcarra, 57.
“It is very sinking the country into this uncertainty. “
Vizcarra said the resolution is a conspiracy through Congress, which he elected in January after the president dissolved last year’s parliament amid a war with the opposition over his anti-corruption reforms.
A recent vote by Ipsos showed that 79% of Peruvians would prefer Vizcarra to carry out his term until mid-next year after the elections scheduled for April. Vizcarra runs for that election.
Peru, the world’s second-largest copper producer, has a history of political unrest, with 3 attempts to dismiss an existing president in subsequent years.
(Reporting through Marco Aquino in Lima; written through Cassandra Garrison; edited through Adam Jourdan, Steve Orlofsky and Michael Perry)
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