6 presidents in 4 years: why Peru is so difficult to govern

Peru absorbs presidents.

Pedro Castillo was the last to fall, but he shares with his later predecessors the short time he held in office.

Her successor, the recently sworn in Dina Boluarte, becomes the first female president in the history of Peru, as well as the sixth head of state of Peru since 2018 (Pedro Pablo Kuczynski, Martin Vizcarra, Manuel Merino, Francisco Sagasti, Pedro Castillo and Dina Boluarte). ).

The uncertainty is such that many Peruvians are accustomed to living outside of politics and his constant anxiety.

What makes Peru so ungovernable?

Ongoing tension with Congress

The constant has been repeated in recent years. The constant battle between Congress and the President ends with the defeat of the latter, who eventually resigns from power.

Castillo was the last to experience this in his own flesh.

In an apparent attempt to stop the vacancy proposal being voted against in Congress, he unexpectedly announced the dissolution of Parliament and the creation of an emergency government.

But a few hours later, ignoring the president’s statement, congressmen gathered and announced the vacancy of the president, which remained in the hands of the police and the prosecutor’s office, accused of rebellion.

The situation stems from the Political Constitution of Peru, adopted in 1993, which stipulates that the post of President of the Republic remains vacant for “temporary or permanent incapacity of the President declared by Congress”.

This opened the door for the vacancy to become a kind of sword of Damocles that constantly hangs over the president’s head and can fall on him as soon as the required 87 votes are collected in Congress.

This is what happened now with Castillo, with Vizcarra in 2020 and when Alberto Fujimori fled to Japan in 2000 and Congress had to announce his dismissal.

This constitutional feature explains why Peruvian presidents have a much weaker position.

Subsequent congresses realized that the vacancy procedure gives them the opportunity to fire the president and they did not hesitate to use it.

Up to the fact that there are experts who point out that the original meaning of the vacancy has been distorted.

As Omar Cairo, professor of constitutional law at the Pontifical Catholic University of Peru, told BBC Mundo, “Peru is the only country in the world that has an institution of vacancies due to moral incompetence. But the moral incapacity that has featured in Peru’s constitutions since 1839 hinted in the 19th century at the president’s mental incompetence.

“Now every time Congressmen think a president is immoral, they can only remove him at will by force of vote, and the term ‘immoral’ is very controversial these days.”

And to this is added the growing fragmentation experienced by the Peruvian political forces in recent years.

Cairo explains that “Parliament is not composed of solid parliamentary blocs, but of many small groups that are more aligned with particular interests than programs or ideologies, and this makes it very difficult for presidents to gain support in Congress.”

Thus, the Peruvian is configured as a rarity on the map of Latin American political systems dominated by presidential regimes.

“Peru is not a parliamentary regime, like the British or Spanish, in which the prime minister or prime minister is elected by the deputies in parliament, and the president is elected by direct popular vote in elections, but the existence of a vacancy has allowed a discretionary mechanism for removing the president, which is not found in other countries of our region.

Government option

However, the President of Peru retains some powers that do not leave him entirely at the mercy of Congress, and also help explain why the executive and legislative branches in Peru live in constant tension.

According to the Magna Carta, the president can dissolve the Congress if he denies confidence in the executive branch twice.

Castillo’s latest attempt to stay in power included announcing the dissolution of Congress among other exceptional measures that most analysts and prosecutors deemed unconstitutional and led to his arrest on charges of sedition and other crimes.

In this way, he imitated Alberto Fujimori, a former president who was reviled by Castillo and many of his followers, who in 1992 ordered the closure of Congress.

Last November, Castillo assured that Congress withdrew his confidence because of his position against the law on referendums in the country.

A second refusal would allow him to dissolve the House.

But Congress denied that even this alleged first denial of confidence had taken place and went to the Constitutional Court, which tentatively agreed with it.

It was the last skirmish between Congress and Castillo before the final battle, which ended this Wednesday when he stepped down as president.

And even if there is a new president, there is reason to believe that he will not be the last.

What could happen between Dina Boluarte and Congress

Already new Vice President Dina Boluarte opened her term by calling for a “truce” in Congress and the creation of a “government of national unity.”

But while a majority of congressmen today voted to oust Castillo and install her as the new head of state, it’s unclear whether she will have the support needed to form a stable government.

Boluarte has no bench to support her in the Legislative Assembly.

For Cairo, his presidency risks being marked by the same uncertainty as his predecessors. “Given that the vacancy is framed in such vague terms as it is now, it is likely that he will suffer the same fate.”

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