Peru Congress seeks to dismiss President Pedro Castillo for alleged ‘moral incapacity’ News
Peru Congress seeks to dismiss President Pedro Castillo for alleged ‘moral incapacity’

Peruvian Congressman Edward Málaga Tuesday presented a vacancy motion against President Pedro Castillo alleging “moral incapacity,” regulated in number 113.1 of the Peruvian Constitution. The vacancy motion has 67 signatures from members of the Peruvian Congress, who would be in favor of dismissing Castillo from office. The political parties that support the vacancy motion are “Renovación Popular,” “Avanza País,” “Fuerza Popular,” “Acción Popular” and “Alianza para el Progreso.”

This is the third vacancy motion that has been filed against President Castillo. According to Málaga, work on this new vacancy motion started in January and concluded on October 13. Likewise, Málaga pointed out that they decided to present the motion because they are certain that the objective of vacating the president will be achieved, since they trust in the improvement of the dialogue with other political parties of the Congress.

As the next step, the vacancy motion must be admitted for debate in the plenary session of Congress. If it is admitted, it will be discussed and a vote will be taken on it, after summoning President Pedro Castillo, who must then give his defenses.

For his part, head of Congress José Williams confirmed that the vacancy motion has already been made known to President Castillo. This way Castillo, in the event that the vacancy motion is admitted in plenary session of Congress, can prepare his defense for when he is cited in the Congress.

Finally, the other members of Congress who did not sign the vacancy motion have shown their differences regarding this initiative. While one group anticipates a defeat in the vote, another sector maintains that there are no pretexts for rejecting the request. Guillermo Bermejo, from the Perú Democrático political party affiliated with the Castillo government, said that those who presented the motion are “coup leaders”.