By Marco Aquino
LIMA (Reuters) – Opposition lawmakers in Peru, including from the party of narrowly defeated right-wing presidential candidate Keiko Fujimori, presented a motion in Congress on Thursday seeking to remove leftist President Pedro Castillo.
The motion, citing “moral inability” to govern, was presented with the signatures of 28 legislators. It will face a vote in Congress, as yet unscheduled, where 52 votes from 130 lawmakers would be needed to begin impeachment proceedings.
Castillo’s team did not respond to a request for comment.
A final vote would require 87 votes to oust Castillo, who came to power in July but has seen his popularity wane, including with his own Marxist Free Peru party, amid a spate of mining protests and scandals hitting key ministers and advisers.
The potential impeachment, though yet to gain traction, has cast a shadow over Castillo’s administration. Peru’s Congress, which generally leans to the right, has a history of controversial impeachments.
An anti-corruption prosecutor’s office recently launched an investigation into a key presidential adviser, Bruno Pacheco, and found $20,000 in the bathroom of his government office in a raid. Pacheco, who denies wrongdoing, resigned last week.
Peru, the world’s second largest copper producer, has had five presidents since 2016.
(Reporting by Marco Aquino; Editing by Adam Jourdan and Jonathan Oatis)
