Spanish
Lima.- The Congress of Peru removed the interim president, the right-winger José Jerí, this Tuesday, less than two months before the general elections, which becomes the eighth presidential change that the Andean country has experienced in almost a decade of political instability, which began after the 2016 elections.
With 75 votes in favor, 24 against, and 3 abstentions, the Peruvian Legislature resolved to remove Jerí from power due to the investigations opened against him during his short term of just four months, following several semi-clandestine meetings with Chinese businessmen contractors of the State and alleged irregularities in the hiring of female officials who previously had meetings with him in the Government Palace.
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Jerí served as interim President of Peru in his capacity as President of Congress, following the removal of President Dina Boluarte (2022-2025) last October, so upon being censured as the highest authority of Parliament, he automatically loses his status as acting head of state. In a last attempt to save themselves, the Somos Perú party, to which Jerí belongs, proposed that the debate be suspended so that the dismissal would take place through the figure of the vacancy (presidential dismissal), which required the votes of two-thirds of the chamber, something that was not accepted by the majority of Parliament. The group of conservative parties that control Congress, and that initially supported Jeri's rise to power, withdrew their confidence a few weeks before the elections to distance themselves from the ruler's loss of popularity in the face of revelations in recent weeks that prompted the Prosecutor's Office to investigate him for influence peddling. The only party that maintained its bloc support for Jerí was Fujimorism, against the country having a new presidential change like those it has previously promoted and supported against other leaders in the past. While Jerí could have participated in that session in his capacity as a congressman, the president chose not to and stayed at the Government Palace, where he presided over the changing of the guard. Jerí's fall was as rapid as his rise to power: he entered Congress in the 2021 elections as a substitute for the disqualified former president Martín Vizcarra (2018-2020) and soon went from being an unknown legislator to chairing parliamentary committees, then leading the entire Legislature and from there jumping to the Presidency in replacement of Boluarte. While he focused his mandate on the fight against organized crime, his initial popularity deteriorated as semi-secret meetings with Chinese businessmen were discovered, in particular one he attended with a hooded figure, with the apparent intention of not being recognized. Now the Peruvian Legislative must elect this Wednesday a new congressman to preside over the chamber and who, once appointed, will become at the same moment the acting president of the Republic until July 28, when the next president or president elected from the ongoing electoral process must take office.
