Why is Peru on its way to having its eighth president in almost ten years of political crisis?

Lima.- The persistent political crisis in Peru seemed to have given the Andean country a respite just before its elections, but the new scandals surrounding the interim president, the right-winger José Jerí, open the door for him to be removed next Tuesday, and therefore there will be a new president, the eighth since this shredder of presidents began ten years ago.

Jer assumed the presidential band just four months ago, being the president of Congress at the time that former President Dina Boluarte was removed by the Legislature, and during the first months in office, this parliamentarian who had gone unnoticed until then had good acceptance by Peruvians, as he faced the fight against crime as a priority.

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1.- The Investigations

But soon everything went wrong for the 39-year-old lawyer, as semi-clandestine meetings of Jerí with Chinese businessmen came to light, the most controversial being the one he attended hooded at a restaurant owned by one of these businessmen, which led to the opening of an investigation in the Prosecutor’s Office for illegal sponsorship and aggravated influence peddling. Furthermore, it has been widely reported in the local press that at least five young women obtained contracts with the State after meeting with Jerí at the Government Palace, one of them after spending the entire Halloween night there and leaving the presidential headquarters the following morning.

2.- The vote of censure

These revelations prompted the presentation of a series of motions of censure against Jerí that could not be processed until March as Congress was in recess, unless the signatures of 78 of the 130 congressmen of Congress were gathered, which was achieved on Thursday due to a lack of clear explanations from Jerí.

As he is a congressman who is temporarily exercising the Presidency of the country, his departure can occur with half plus one of the votes registered in the session that will take place this Tuesday, February 17, in Parliament, as he would be censured as president of Congress, which automatically invalidates him from continuing to exercise the Presidency.

3.- Elections on the horizon

This situation arises less than two months before the general elections called for Sunday, April 12, where several parties, which from Congress supported Jerí’s arrival to the presidential seat, do not want to now be seen contaminated at the polls by the unpopularity into which the president has fallen in recent weeks. The only force that openly maintains its support for Jerí is Fujimorism, which is betting on keeping him until the presidential inauguration of the ruler who is elected in these elections, with the argument of giving stability to the country.

4.- Eighth President?

Ollanta Humala (2011-2016) was the last leader to complete a term. Since then, in almost a decade, seven presidents have passed through the Government Palace of Lima, and if the motions of censure against Jerí succeed, there would be an eighth one next week to be in power for five months. In this sense, it’s quite a mystery who will be the new interim president if Jerí is removed, because the vast majority of congressmen are running for re-election and the fame of the parliamentarians is deteriorated by controversies among the legislators.