Peru Plunges into Political Crisis

The Government Palace, where the President currently resides. (Flickr)

Peru hurtled into what could potentially be the country’s worst constitutional crisis in the last 30 years.

When Peru’s president Martín Vizcarra announced the dissolution of Congress on September 30 and the rescheduling of legislative elections to January 26, the national military and police forces were quick to reaffirm their loyalty to President Vizcarra. The Peruvian Congress, currently holding an opposition majority, responded by voting to end Vizcarra’s term and swearing in Vice President Mercedes Aráoz as the new head of state. Within 24 hours, however, Aráoz announced her resignation, saying in a letter posted to Twitter, “the constitutional order in Peru has broken down."

Protests soon broke out in the streets of downtown Lima, and legislatures called the situation a coup. Extra police were dispatched to patrol the streets.

The executive and legislative offices have been feuding since before Vizcarra entered office in March 2018. The legislature last shut down in 1992 under former president Alberto Fujimori, who held office from 1990 to 2000. The Lima-born son of Japanese immigrants, Fujimori began his presidency by promoting pro-business policies, anti-crime initiatives, and social programs. A little over a decade later, however, Fujimori fled to his parents’ native Japan while being removed from office by Congress. He was captured in Chile in 2005, extradited to Lima, and sentenced to 25 years in prison for corruption and human rights abuses, including the killing of 25 people.

Shortly thereafter, Keiko Fujimori took over her father’s right-wing party, Fuerza Popular, or Popular Force, and has unsuccessfully ran for president twice since then. She, too, was jailed in late 2018 while being investigated for obtaining undeclared campaign donations from Brazilian construction company Odebrecht.

Until Vizcarra there has not been a president since Fujimori without connections to Odebrecht. Pedro Pablo Kuczynski, Vizcarra’s predecessor, stepped down last year after Odebrecht-affiliated bribery allegations.

The Organization of American States, or OAS, supports Vizcarra, and said it was up to Peru’s Constitutional Court, not Congress, to rule on legality and legitimacy. According to the Peruvian Constitution, the president has the right to dissolve Congress and call new elections if the body delivers two votes of no-confidence. Vizcarra deduced that second vote occurred when Congress voted to install a new justice to the Constitutional Tribunal (TC) on September 30. It is up to the courts to decide whether Vizcarra has the right to dissolve Congress under this measure--or if he overstepped his role.

Polls show overwhelming public support for Vizcarra, with 75 percent in favor of dissolving Congress. Nearly 90 percent disapprove of Congress, viewing members as corrupt, obstructive, and overdue for dissolution. Vizcarra assumed office with the promise of targeting scandals, which has further fueled tension between the executive and legislative offices.