The new Prime Minister of Peru, Gustavo Adrianzén, obtained the confidence of Parliament on Wednesday April 3, at a time when an investigation targeting President Dina Boluarte, caught up in a luxury watch affair, is weakening his government.
Seventy deputies out of one hundred and thirty placed their confidence in the new government on Wednesday evening. Seventeen abstained and thirty-six voted against.
Gustavo Adrianzén had to collect the votes of half the chamber plus one to win the vote of confidence; a formality in view of the majority of seats occupied by right-wing and far-right parties, supporters of President Dina Boluarte. “Confidence in Gustavo Adrianzén, President of the Council of Ministers, has been granted,” said Alejandro Soto, President of Parliament.
A 57-year-old center-right lawyer, Gustavo Adrianzén replaced Alberto Otarola at the beginning of March, after the resignation of the latter targeted by an investigation for influence peddling. His government is the third in 16 months.
Peruvian President Dina Boluarte in San Francisco on November 16, 2023 in California © JOSH EDELSON / AFP/Archives
The Constitution of Peru provides that within thirty days of his appointment, the Prime Minister appears before Parliament to explain his general policy and request a vote of confidence.
In a speech lasting almost two hours, Gustavo Adrianzén said he wanted to "undertake the great tasks that the Peruvian people expect", proposing "an administration with clean hands, a transparent government to face corruption and inefficiency".
This vote comes against a backdrop of Dina Boluarte's involvement in several cases, the latest of which concerns alleged acts of illicit enrichment linked to Rolex watches that she is suspected of not having declared as part of her assets.
Also read: “Rolexgate”, a scandal which reveals Peru’s “structural problems”
His home, in the suburbs of the capital Lima, as well as his presidential office were searched on Saturday as part of this case. No watches were discovered there and the prosecution ordered her to bring them during a summons to appear in court on Friday.
On Tuesday, Attorney General Juan Villena announced that the investigation now also focused on jewelry, including a bracelet worth $56,000, and bank deposits of some $270,000 between 2021 and 2022.
Police officers leave the home of Peruvian President Dina Boluarte during a search ordered by the public prosecutor as part of a preliminary investigation, on March 30, 2024 in Lima © Juan Carlos CISNEROS / AFP/Archives
The scandal, dubbed by the press "Rolexgate", broke out on March 15, when a news website published a series of photos showing Dina Boluarte wearing different luxury watches while she was in government between 2021 and 2022.
"Political arena"
Dina Boluarte, whose popularity rating does not exceed 10% in opinion surveys, claimed to have "clean hands" and to only own one watch. In the wake of the searches, six of the eighteen ministers announced their resignation from the government on Monday. In the middle of the night, Dina Boluarte administered the oath to the six new ministers appointed to replace the outgoing ones.
Under the Constitution, in the event of prosecution, the president of Peru cannot be tried before July 2026, the date of the end of her mandate. It is therefore in "the political arena, in Parliament", that "will decide whether she remains in the presidency" or not, underlines analyst Augusto Alvarez Rodrich.
Police officers leave the home of Peruvian President Dina Boluarte during a search ordered by the public prosecutor as part of a preliminary investigation, on March 30, 2024 in Lima © Juan Carlos CISNEROS / AFP/Archives
The opposition presented a request for dismissal on Saturday for "permanent moral incapacity". The motion, tabled by Peru Libre, the left-wing party to which Dina Boluarte belonged before becoming president, is supported by thirty parliamentarians. But to be debated, it must receive the votes of more than fifty of the one hundred and thirty members of Parliament. This is the third request for impeachment that the left has filed against the head of state. None has yet been submitted to parliamentary debate.
Dina Boluarte is also the subject of an investigation for "genocide, aggravated homicide and serious injury" after the death of more than fifty people during the two months of social unrest which accompanied her accession to the head of Peru.
She became president after the impeachment in early December 2022 and the arrest of left-wing head of state Pedro Castillo, of whom she was vice-president.
With AFP
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