In Peru, the president dissolves Parliament and announces “an exceptional government”

Peruvian President Pedro Castillo on Wednesday (December 7th) ordered the dissolution of parliament, hours before it meets to debate a new motion to dismiss him. The Head of State also announced the establishment of a “exceptional government”.

The leftist president said in a message to the nation from the government palace “temporarily dissolve the Congress of the Republic and establish an exceptional emergency government”as well as “convene as soon as possible a new Congress with constitutive powers”.

“This intolerable situation cannot last any longer, and that is why, in response to the demands of the citizens… we have decided to establish an emergency government aimed at restoring the rule of law and democracy”, he justified before detailing the measures taken. Until the establishment of the new Parliament, “the government will be governed by a decree-law”continued President Castillo, also announcing a “national curfew from today” between 10 p.m. and 4 a.m.

“It’s a self-coup”

“The judicial system, the judiciary, the public ministry, the National Council of Justice, the Constitutional Court are declared in reorganization”he also announced, asking “to all persons in possession of illegal weapons” of the “hand over to the national police within 72 hours”.

national police “will devote all its efforts to the real and effective fight against crime, corruption and drug trafficking, for which it will be provided with the necessary resources”he continued, calling on the institutions of civil society “to support these decisions that will allow us to put our country on the path to development”.

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“President Pedro Castillo staged a coup. He violated article 117 of the Peruvian Constitution and is illegal. It’s a self-coup”reacted to Agence France-Presse (AFP) Augusto Alvarez, an independent political analyst.

“It’s a coup doomed to failure, Peru wants to live in democracy”said Francisco Morales, president of the Constitutional Court, on RPP radio. “No one owes obedience to a usurping government”, he added. Peru’s right-wing parliament was due to debate a new motion on Wednesday to impeach him for “permanent moral incapacity”.

Two previous impeachment motions

The debate on this motion was scheduled for 3 p.m. (9 p.m. in Paris). For him to be impeached, the motion had to receive a minimum of 87 votes out of the 130 in Parliament. The opposition had around 80. Mr. Castillo has already escaped two similar motions, the last of which was in March 2022.

At the time, the opposition accused him of having intervened in a case of alleged corruption operated by his entourage and of having committed a ” treason “ by declaring itself open to a referendum on an outlet to the Pacific Ocean for neighboring Bolivia, deprived of access to the sea. It also criticized him for the repeated ministerial crises and the formation of four governments in eight months, an unprecedented event in the Peru.

It was then the sixth impeachment motion of the Peruvian Parliament for “moral incapacity” against a president in office since 2017, after Pedro Pablo Kuczynski (right) in 2018 and Martin Vizcarra (center) in 2020. The ousting of Mr. Vizcarra had triggered violently repressed demonstrations which had left two dead and a hundred injured. His departure had led Peru to have three presidents in five days.

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The World with AFP