Peru: Castillo at the edge

PERU - In Brief 02 Dec 2022 by Alfredo Thorne

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Yesterday was a bad day for President Pedro Castillo and the odds that he is ousted in the next six months are high. For once, Congress approved the third impeachment motion with 73 votes in favor, 32 against and 6 abstentions. Although Congress needs 87 votes to oust him, the opposition believes it can get the additional votes. President Castillo and his lawyer have been summoned to Congress to exert its defense on December 7th.  Next, the Constitution Commission in Congress has approved a consensual opinion introducing the temporary suspension of the president with 14 votes in favor and 8 against. This provision is included in Article 114 of the Constitution and this Commission is opening the door for suspending the president for 36 months and while the president faces one of the four possible accusations provided for in article 117. Although the process is like the impeachment, Congress only needs simple majority, 66 votes to suspend the president. Finally, the same Commission in Congress approved a consensual opinion to bring forward general elections to 2023.  This follows former Prime Minister Mr. Anibal Torres decision on November 17th to call for a no-confidence vote on the so-called anti-referendum law. The government interpreted Congress’ decision as a formal approval and counted as one out of two no-confidence votes needed to shut down Congress.  This infuriated congress-members and approved by 98 votes in favor (out of 130) to introduce a competence demand and injunctive relief to the Constitutional Tribunal (CT). This aims at CT determining the validity of the government interpretation of the no confidence vote; and the second, to order the Government to a...