MONTEVIDEO (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 01st October, 2019) Peru's Congress, dissolved by the country's President Martin Vizcarra on Monday, has declared him temporarily unfit for governing and has appointed Vice President Mercedes Araoz as acting head of state.
"I assume presidency, responding to the president Martin Vizcarra failing to comply with three constitutional articles," Araoz said late on Monday, as quoted on the official Twitter account of Peru's Congress.
Earlier on Monday, Vizcarra dissolved the country's opposition-dominated Congress after lawmakers voted to select a new member of the Constitutional Tribunal, ignoring the president's calls for reform.
After dissolving Congress on Monday, Vizcarra appointed Justice Minister Vicente Zeballos the new Prime Minister, to replace Salvador del Solar, the Peru 21 newspaper reported.
Congress delayed a planned vote of confidence until Monday afternoon, in favor of electing the new court justice, who is reportedly a relative of the president of Congress, something that was interpreted by Vizcarra as a motion of no-confidence.
"The solution to a crisis is not populist offers. Martin Vizcarra announced an illegal dissolution of Congress of Peru," Araoz stressed on Monday, after her appointment as acting president.
Peru's constitution states that the president can dissolve Congress if lawmakers deliver two votes of no-confidence; one such vote has already been delivered. In June, Peru's government won a confidence vote in the country's Congress, avoiding special legislative elections.
Earlier this month, lawmakers failed to pass a constitutional reform seeking to hold presidential elections in 2020, a year earlier than scheduled. The reform was proposed as Vizcarra was seeking to overcome a political stalemate with right-wing lawmakers, who have been opposing his anti-corruption policies.
