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The decision was made after a controversial constitutional process that is heading the country into inevitable instability amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
Merino, who was and will continue to be the head of the Legislative Power in parallel to the Head of State, assumed in a brief ceremony in Congress as Peru’s third president in four years as protests raged across the country – the vast majority peaceful, but not exempt from episodes of violence – who clamored against the removal of Vizcarra and the “usurper” parliament.
Despite criticism and doubts about the decision of Congress, which on Monday voted overwhelmingly in favor of removing Vizcarra and naming Merino as his replacement according to the Constitution, all the powers of the State assumed and accepted the appointment, such as the armed forces and the National Police, whose top leaders met personally with the new president.
The new president, from the center-right Popular Action party (AP), gave a brief speech to Congress after being sworn in, in which ratified that it will respect the date of the general elections called for next April 11, 2021, in an attempt to appease the protests against him and attenuate criticism of the impeachment process of his predecessor.
These criticisms are mainly centered on the fear that now Congress and the Executive, unified in practice in a single power, will choose to postpone the elections and perpetuate themselves in their positions.
“My first commitment is to ratify our democratic conviction and respect the electoral process (…) The electoral calendar must be respected, no one can change the date convened to April 11, 2021,” said Merino, who also indicated that his Government “will grant all the resources ”necessary to hold the elections.
He then provided some guidelines on how to proceed until a new government assumes in July 2021, among which he highlighted that will seek to “correct the mistakes” of its predecessors to stop being the “country with the worst handling of the pandemic” of COVID-19.
The mismanagement of this disease was in fact used by many parliamentarians as an argument to justify Vizcarra’s vacancy and as a sign of the “moral incapacity” that guaranteed his dismissal.
Likewise, Merino affirmed that during his tenure the economic reactivation will continue, strengthening large and small companies, and creating lost jobs. However, he did not explain how he will do it.
He also promised that he will convene a “cabinet of consensus and national unity”, made up of professionals “of the highest qualifications” and without political colors.
This task was considered one of the most important and that will mark both the profile and the political interpretation that is made of the vacancy, according to several political analysts commented to Efe.
“This Government must necessarily be a transitional Government, act as such. As a priority, it must respond to the serious health, economic and political crisis we are in … But the fundamental thing is to guarantee clean and transparent elections in April 2021“, The political scientist Adriana Urrutia told Efe.
Many citizens and various political parties, in addition to the environment of former President Vizcarra, denounce that the vacancy was due to a “division” of positions and promises among those who voted in favor of it to defend particular interests.
Thus, the selection of ministers, the profiles and the portfolios they occupy will have a special relevance.
To dismiss this criticism, in his speech Merino affirmed that the votes against Vizcarra “were not bought”, as did several of the legislators who supported the motion.
Protests in Peru
Merino swore while outside the Congress the protests took place, which throughout the day also extended to the surroundings of the Government Palace where the new president entered to begin the preparation of his cabinet.
The mobilizations were also replicated in cities throughout the country, led for the most part by young people mobilized by social networks who clamored against the “usurper” and “coup” congress and in support of Vizcarra and his anti-corruption policies, according to them at risk under an ex-congressional presidency.
For hours there were runs, tear gas and arrests in the streets of downtown Lima, frequent episodes of violence but they did not go to extremes either.
And Vizcarra?
Meanwhile, now a civilian, Vizcarra resumed his private activities and was seen while attending a meeting with his lawyer to prepare his defense against accusations of corruption that ultimately led to his removal.
Surprisingly calm and relaxed, Vizcarra even joked with the journalists who were waiting for him at the door of his residence in Lima and before whom he confirmed that this Thursday he will attend the summons of the prosecutor Germán Juárez, of the Lava Jato special team, who is investigating him for the alleged crimes of bribery, collusion and illicit association committed when he was Governor of Moquegua.
He also confirmed that his lawyer has already appeared as his legal defender before the two prosecutors investigating these alleged irregular events and indicated that he will appear before both to offer them “everything they require.”
As for the new president, the former president expressed his “concern”, since he is an authority that lacks “two basic conditions.”
“It needs legality and legitimacy, and legality is in question because the Constitutional Court has not yet manifested itself, and legitimacy, who gives it? The village. So, an authority that does not have defined legality and backing legitimacy raises concern ”, he concluded.
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