Peru’s opposition-controlled Congress yesterday ousted center-right Peruvian President Pedro Pablo Kuczynski’s Cabinet in a vote of no-confidence, pitching the copper-producing Andean country into its worst political crisis in years.
In a gamble that would likely force him to scrap his plans to travel abroad later yesterday, Kuczynski on Wednesday dared Congress to revoke its confidence in his Cabinet if it insisted on forcing out his second education minister.
Under the Peruvian constitution, if Congress does not deliver a president a vote of confidence for his Cabinets twice, the president can summon new legislative elections.
Photo: Reuters
However, the right-wing populist opposition party Popular Force, led by Kuczynski’s defeated electoral rival, Keiko Fujimori, on Thursday answered Peruvian Prime Minister Fernando Zavala’s request to back his Cabinet with a resounding “no.”
Peru’s single-chamber Congress, where Popular Force has an absolute majority, voted 77 against 22 to dismiss Zavala’s Cabinet.
Kuczynski now has 72 hours to swear in a new Cabinet. While he cannot name Zavala as prime minister again, Kuczynski can reappoint other ministers in his Cabinet.
Kuczynski might have a freer hand to govern in the remaining four years of his term if the opposition steers clear of a fresh confrontation out of fear of losing its majority.
However, several opposition lawmakers said they would welcome taking the battle to the ballot box.
“If they close Congress, we’re not afraid,” hard-line Popular Force lawmaker Hector Becerril said. “We’re willing to seek the people’s support again. And it won’t be 13 seats we win, or 73. There’ll be 100 of us!”
The vote came on the eve of Kuczynski’s eight-day trip abroad, which includes plans for a dinner with US President Donald Trump on Monday, a speech before the UN General Assembly on Tuesday and a meeting with Pope Francis in the Vatican.
Kuczynski, a 78-year-old former Wall Street banker who has vowed to modernize Peru and revive economic growth, took office a year ago with one of the weakest mandates of any president, having beat Fujimori by a razor-thin margin, while his party only secured a small portion of seats in Congress.
In a plenary debate that stretched on for more than seven hours, opposition lawmakers portrayed Kuczynski as an out-of-touch lobbyist who lacks authority and poses a danger to Peru.
Congress has forced Kuczynski’s former education and finance ministers to resign amid allegations of ethical breaches, while a third minister quit to avoid being censured.
Popular Force this week announced that it planned to propose censuring Peruvian Education Minister Marilu Martens over her handling of a two-month teachers’ strike, which her supporters alleged was fueled by an alliance between Popular Force and extremists.
“We can’t deliver the head of a minister as a trophy,” Zavala told lawmakers after walking to Congress with the rest of the Cabinet in a show of union. “It’s clear to us that the country can’t make progress like this.”
OPTIMISTIC: A Philippine Air Force spokeswoman said the military believed the crew were safe and were hopeful that they and the jet would be recovered A Philippine Air Force FA-50 jet and its two-person crew are missing after flying in support of ground forces fighting communist rebels in the southern Mindanao region, a military official said yesterday. Philippine Air Force spokeswoman Colonel Consuelo Castillo said the jet was flying “over land” on the way to its target area when it went missing during a “tactical night operation in support of our ground troops.” While she declined to provide mission specifics, Philippine Army spokesman Colonel Louie Dema-ala confirmed that the missing FA-50 was part of a squadron sent “to provide air support” to troops fighting communist rebels in
PROBE: Last week, Romanian prosecutors launched a criminal investigation against presidential candidate Calin Georgescu accusing him of supporting fascist groups Tens of thousands of protesters gathered in Romania’s capital on Saturday in the latest anti-government demonstration by far-right groups after a top court canceled a presidential election in the EU country last year. Protesters converged in front of the government building in Bucharest, waving Romania’s tricolor flags and chanting slogans such as “down with the government” and “thieves.” Many expressed support for Calin Georgescu, who emerged as the frontrunner in December’s canceled election, and demanded they be resumed from the second round. George Simion, the leader of the far-right Alliance for the Unity of Romanians (AUR), which organized the protest,
ECONOMIC DISTORTION? The US commerce secretary’s remarks echoed Elon Musk’s arguments that spending by the government does not create value for the economy US Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick on Sunday said that government spending could be separated from GDP reports, in response to questions about whether the spending cuts pushed by Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency could possibly cause an economic downturn. “You know that governments historically have messed with GDP,” Lutnick said on Fox News Channel’s Sunday Morning Futures. “They count government spending as part of GDP. So I’m going to separate those two and make it transparent.” Doing so could potentially complicate or distort a fundamental measure of the US economy’s health. Government spending is traditionally included in the GDP because
Hundreds of people in rainbow colors gathered on Saturday in South Africa’s tourist magnet Cape Town to honor the world’s first openly gay imam, who was killed last month. Muhsin Hendricks, who ran a mosque for marginalized Muslims, was shot dead last month near the southern city of Gqeberha. “I was heartbroken. I think it’s sad especially how far we’ve come, considering how progressive South Africa has been,” attendee Keisha Jensen said. Led by motorcycle riders, the mostly young crowd walked through the streets of the coastal city, some waving placards emblazoned with Hendricks’s image and reading: “#JUSTICEFORMUHSIN.” No arrest
RSS