Peru leader dissolves Congress hours before impeachment bidon December 7, 2022 at 6:37 pm

Peru’s President Pedro Castillo has announced he is dissolving Congress and replacing it with an “exceptional emergency government”.

The embattled leader said he would rule by decree.

Mr Castillo made the announcement just hours before Congress was due to start fresh impeachment proceedings against him – the third since he came to office in July 2021.

The two previous impeachment motions against him failed to get enough votes.

The country’s Congress is controlled by parties opposed to Mr Castillo.

He has accused those aiming to remove him from office of trying to undermine democracy, but his critics say the dissolution of Congress amounts to a “coup d’etat”.

There are reports that several ministers have resigned in protest.

In a televised address to the nation on Wednesday, he said: “In response to citizens’ demands throughout the length and breadth of the country, we have decided to establish an exceptional government aimed at re-establishing the rule of law and democracy.”

He said that “a new Congress with constituent powers to draw up a new constitution” would be convened “within no more than nine months”.

Peru has been going through a rocky political period, with multiple presidents ousted from office in recent years.

In 2020, it had three presidents within the space of five days.

Mr Castillo, who is a left-wing former school teacher, was elected in June 2021 in a polarising election in which he defeated his right-wing rival Keiko Fujimori.

He has recently been fighting allegations of corruption, which he says are part of a plot to oust him.