Peru's Congress approved a motion of censure on Tuesday that removed President José Jerí from office, according to local media and the Argentine News Agency. The vote concluded with 75 votes in favor, 24 against, and 3 abstentions, reported the newspaper El Comercio. The Parliament accuses the 39-year-old Jerí of “misconduct and lack of fitness for office” after unregistered meetings between the president and the Chinese businessman Zhihua Yang, a state supplier, were revealed. Following the vote, the interim president of Congress, Fernando Rospigliosi, stated that the motions were approved, so the Board of Directors declared the office of the president of the republic vacant. It also called a session for tomorrow at 6:00 PM for the election of the president of the Parliament, who will serve as the acting head of state. Jerí, who assumed the leadership of the state in October last year after the removal of Dina Boluarte (2022-2025), interrupted his mandate after only four months in office. Jerí's removal plunges Peru into a new political crisis, as he was the seventh president to hold the highest office in ten years. Motions of censure have increased in recent weeks, accompanied by a drop in his popularity, an effect that led the parties that initially supported his appointment to now seek distance as elections approach.
