Lima, Oct 12 (EFE).- A group of left-wing and independent congressmen on Thursday presented a motion to impeach Peruvian President Dina Boluarte for allegedly violating the Constitution by traveling abroad without having vice presidents in place.
The motion, which includes the signatures of 26 legislators, accuses Boularte of violating Article 115 of the Constitution even though the plenary session of Congress approved a law in June that allows her to leave the country and remain at the head of the office virtually.
The text adds that Boluarte has “incurred the cause of permanent moral incapacity” since Article 115 states that when a president leaves the national territory, “the first vice president takes charge of the office,” or “failing that, the second vice president does so.”
Boluarte does not have a vice-president because she held that position when Congress dismissed Pedro Castillo on December 7 after an attempted coup, leading to her assuming the head of state by constitutional succession.
Given the impossibility of leaving the country, the Executive Branch sent a bill to Congress, approved by the plenary session on June 8, to allow her to remain in charge of the presidential office remotely using digital technologies.
Although it was presented on Thursday, the motion is dated August 7, when Boluarte first left the country to attend the Amazon Summit in Brazil, after which she traveled to the United States in September to attend the United Nations General Assembly.
She is visiting Germany and Italy, where she will meet with Pope Francis on Saturday.
The Peruvian presidency reported Thursday that Boularte participated virtually in a meeting of the Council of Ministers from Stuttgart, where she began her trip, which was approved last week by the plenary session of Congress.
After learning of the presentation of the motion, leftist congressman Alex Flores, one of its promoters, indicated that he hoped the motion would have the support of the representatives of the other groups.
The Peruvian Congress is controlled by right-wing and centrist groups that have rejected such requests on previous occasions, so it is unlikely that this motion will even receive the necessary votes to be admitted to debate.
In addition to being presented in the middle of Boluarte’s third trip, the request coincided with a call for a new protest against the government, which has not had much echo so far.
Nevertheless, a mobilization has been announced for the following hours in the historic center of Lima. EFE
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