Peru plunged into political crisis.

The left-wing president elected in 2021 Pedro Castillo ordered, on Wednesday December 7, the dissolution of Parliament and announced the establishment of an "exceptional government".

In a message to the nation delivered from the presidential palace, the leftist president declared "temporarily dissolve the Congress of the Republic and establish an exceptional emergency government".

In the process, Parliament voted to dismiss Pedro Castillo for "moral incapacity".

The motion was approved by 101 of the 130 parliamentarians.

The poll was broadcast live on television.

Before the vote, the vice-president of Peru, Dina Boluarte, had denounced the decisions of President Castillo.

"This is a coup that aggravates the political and institutional crisis that Peruvian society will have to overcome by strictly respecting the law," she reacted on Twitter.

Rechazo the decision of Pedro Castillo to perpetrar el quiebre del orden constitucional con el cierre del Congreso.

It is about a golpe de Estado that aggravates the political and institutional crisis that the Peruvian society will tend to superar con stricto apego a la ley.

— Dina Boluarte Z. (@DinaErcilia) December 7, 2022

“The government will be governed by a decree-law”

In his speech, Pedro Castillo also announced "to convene as soon as possible a new Congress with constituent powers to draft a new Constitution within a period not exceeding nine months".

"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 said before detailing the measures taken.

Until the establishment of the new Parliament, "the government will be governed by decree-law", continued President Castillo, also announcing a "national curfew from today" between 10 p.m. and 4 a.m. .

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

The 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 society civil "to support these decisions which will allow us to put our country on the path of development".

"No one owes obedience to a usurping government"

"President Pedro Castillo staged a coup. He violated Article 117 of the Peruvian Constitution and is illegal. It's a self-coup," reacted to 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.

Pedro Castillo previously escaped two similar impeachment 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 carried out by his entourage and of having committed "treason" by declaring himself open to a referendum on an outlet to the Pacific Ocean for neighboring Bolivia, deprived of access to the sea. She also blamed him for the repeated ministerial crises and the formation of four governments in eight months, an unprecedented event in Peru.

It was then the sixth impeachment motion by the Peruvian Parliament for "moral incapacity" against a sitting president since 2017, after Pedro Pablo Kuczynski (right) in 2018 and Martin Vizcarra (center) in 2020.

The eviction of Martin Vizcarra had triggered violently repressed demonstrations which left two dead and a hundred injured.

His departure had led Peru to have three presidents in five days.

With AFP

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