Peru Ousts Interim President over Corruption Probe
Jerí is under a preliminary investigation into corruption and influence peddling stemming from a series of undisclosed meetings with two Chinese executives.
Peru’s legislature voted, with 75 votes in favour, 24 against and 3 abstentions, to remove Jerí from office on October 10, which he assumed when his predecessor, Dina Boluarte, was impeached amid a crime wave that engulfed the country.
Jerí’s impeachment is the latest chapter in a long-running political crisis in a country that has seen seven presidents since 2016 and is about to hold a general election amid widespread public outcry over a rise in violent crime.
MPs will elect a new president from among their members to serve until July 28, when the interim leader will hand over power to the winner of the April 12 presidential election. Jerí will return to his role as a legislator until July 28, when the new Congress takes office.
The vote on the interim leader will take place on Wednesday after MPs register their candidates.
The accusations against Jerí stemmed from a leaked report regarding a secret December meeting with two Chinese executives. One of the participants has active government contracts, while the other is currently under investigation for alleged involvement in an illegal logging operation.
Jerí denied wrongdoing. He said he met with administrators to organize a Peruvian-Chinese festival, but his opponents accused him of corruption.
Despite the revolving door of presidents, Peru’s economy has remained stable. The Andean nation’s public debt-to-gross domestic product ratio was one of the lowest in Latin America, at 32% in 2024, and the government has welcomed foreign investment in areas such as mining and infrastructure.
As Peru moves toward this year’s general election, Rafael Lopez Aliaga, a conservative businessman and former mayor of Lima, is leading a crowded field that includes prominent former legislator Keiko Fujimori, whose father was Peru’s president in the 1990s. If no candidate receives 50 percent of the vote, a runoff election will be held in June between the top two candidates.
Lawmakers in Peru have gained increasing influence over the country’s executive branch over the past decade, using corruption investigations to impeach presidents who have struggled to form congressional majorities.
The clause in Peru’s constitution that allows the removal of presidents deemed “morally incompetent” to govern the country has been interpreted broadly by lawmakers and has been used many times to vote to impeach presidents.
Jerí’s predecessor, Boluarte, was in office for almost three years and survived violent protests in which police killed dozens of protesters. However, he was eventually removed from office on the grounds of moral inadequacy, with MPs citing high crime rates and corruption scandals.
Pedro Castillo, a leftist union leader who won the 2021 presidential election, was voted out of office by lawmakers in late 2022 after trying to dissolve congress to bypass anti-corruption procedures. Last year, Castillo was sentenced to 11 years in prison for trying to overthrow the country’s institutions.
