The Peruvian president, Martín Vizcarra, faced a fresh challenge to his leadership on Friday after the Congress approved a motion to start impeachment proceedings against him over leaked audio tapes and alleged ties to a singer involved in a fraud case.
Whether to remove Vizcarra from office for “moral incapacity” is due to be debated and voted upon in the next week, which risks plunging the world’s second-largest copper producer further into crisis as it battles one of the worst coronavirus outbreaks globally amid its deepest recession in decades.
Vizcarra vowed not to resign.
Fifty-two votes from the 130-member Congress were needed to approve the start of impeachment proceedings, and impeachment itself needs 87 votes in order to remove Vizcarra from office. Friday’s vote was 65 in favor, 36 opposed and 24 abstentions.
Lawmakers in Peru’s Congress, a mosaic of parties from the left and right with no overall majority, heard recordings of two private conversations between Vizcarra and government officials about meetings with Richard Cisneros, a little-known singer.
Cisneros, who goes as Richard Swing, was awarded government contracts for motivational talks worth 175,400 soles (US$49,500), which are being investigated by Congress and Peru’s auditor general along with claims of alleged links to the presidency.
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