A day after his ouster, Peru’s parliament voted to appoint José María Balcázar, a former judge and leftist lawmaker, as interim president to replace right-wing leader José Geri.
Wednesday’s vote will make Peru the ninth president in 10 years. But Mr. Balcázar’s tenure will be short-lived.
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Just 53 days later, on April 12, the country will head to the polls to choose a new president. If no candidate receives more than 50% of the votes, a runoff election will be held in June.
Traditionally, Peru’s next president takes office on Independence Day in late July. The ceremony would mark the end of Balcazar’s leadership.
Balcazar’s short tenure is the latest sign of turmoil in Peru’s government. Of Peru’s past eight presidents, four have been impeached and removed from office, and two have resigned before their terms expired.
The last president to serve a full term was Oranta Humala, whose term ended in July 2016.
However, Balcazar’s presidency was marked by its own turmoil. In the first round, center-right lawyers María del Carmen Alba, 58, and Balcázar, 83, came first with 43 and 46 votes, respectively.
However, as neither candidate received the 59 votes needed to become president, a new vote was announced. However, the left-wing party Together for Peru decided to boycott the second round.
Balcázar ultimately won after counting the 113 parliamentary votes cast. He received 60 votes.
Who is the new president, Balcazar?
The prospect of Balcazar winning the vote has sparked anger and frustration among some right-wing politicians, who have criticized him on social media.
“For five years we have worked tirelessly to prevent the parliamentary leadership from falling into the hands of the left,” Patricia Juárez of the far-right Fuerza People’s Party wrote.
“We are now deeply concerned about the consequences, because we may end up handing over even the presidency of the republic to the leftists that Balcázar represents. God help Peru.”
Balcazar is from the left-wing party Peru Libre, or Free Peru. Born in the northern province of Cajamarca, near the border with Ecuador, he studied law and eventually became a professor and judge.
However, his time in the judiciary was not without controversy. In 2004, while serving as interim member of Peru’s Supreme Court, he attempted to overturn the Court of Cassation, which was legally considered the final judgment.
He was subject to a disciplinary hearing, and the Peruvian National Judicial Commission (CNM) ultimately decided not to renew his term as a member of the High Court.
Balcazar has been a member of parliament since 2021, but briefly left Free Peru to join the Peruvian Bicentenario party.
Like many recent Peruvian presidents, Balcazar has been plagued by fears of corruption and scandal.
His advocacy of child marriage raised eyebrows when Congress considered a bill to outlaw child marriage in 2023. He is also under investigation for misappropriating funds from the Lambayek Bar Association and for his involvement in a bribery scandal involving former Attorney General Patricia Benavidez.
But despite his high-profile controversy, his candidacy was able to unite enough lawmakers to win votes, no small feat in Peru’s divided Congress.
What happened to Jose Geri?
At 39 years old, Gerry was one of the youngest presidents to lead Peru. But in the end, he became the latest of three consecutive presidents to be impeached.
His predecessor, Dina Bolarte, was impeached in October for “moral incompetence” amid scrutiny over dismal poll numbers, corruption allegations and use of force against protesters.
Bolarte replaced Pedro Castillo of the Liberal Peru Party, who was impeached in December 2022 after attempting what many considered a self-coup.
He was subsequently arrested and charged with treason and conspiracy. Last November, a court sentenced him to 11 years and 5 months in prison.
Before becoming interim president, Gyeri was president of parliament and oversaw the removal process against Bolarte.
However, since taking office, Geri himself has become embroiled in multiple scandals. Accusations of sexual misconduct were leveled against him, and questions were raised about late-night meetings he held in the executive branch with women who later signed government contracts.
However, one of the biggest scandals concerns off-the-books meetings with Chinese businessmen.
Peruvian law generally requires official meetings to be recorded as presidential agenda items. However, Peruvian media obtained a video showing Jeri, her face hidden behind a hoodie, entering a restaurant owned by Chinese businessman Yang Zhihua in the middle of the night.
This meeting is not recorded in government records. More footage has been released showing Jeri wearing dark sunglasses at a wholesale store run by a businessman.
Yang previously won government concessions to build hydropower plants during the Bolarte administration. But he has faced scrutiny over the project’s transparency and progress.
A second Chinese businessman, Xiaodong Jiu, is also said to have attended the meeting. He is under house arrest for illegal activities.
Jeri denies having any conversation with Ji-woo, stating that she merely offered him food. Regarding the meeting with Yang, Geri said it was an attempt to organize a friendship event between China and Peru. He also allowed him to attend Mr. Yang’s company on a shopping trip.
Mr. Geri has denied any wrongdoing, but prosecutors have opened an investigation into whether he may have spread influence while in office.
The scandal became known as “Chifagate,” after the Chinese-Peruvian fusion dish “chifa.”
But the unrest comes as Peru faces pressure from the United States to limit its relations with China. The US State Department warned this month that Chinese investments in Chancay port could leave the country “powerless” over its own territory.
