Why did the Peruvian President Manuel Merino resign?

On November 15, 2020, the Peruvian President Manuel Merino was forced out of power (meaning forced to resign).

What is the issue?

On November 9, 2020, Martin Vizcarra, predecessor of Manuel was impeached by the Peruvian Legislature. He was impeached on the grounds of unproven charges of corruption.

Vizcarra is not affiliated with any political party. Vizcarra had promised an anti-graft agenda that initiated reforms to tackle corruption in the judicial and legislative branches of the Peruvian Government. This was basically seen as threats by most of the political parties in the country.

Also, Vizcarra dissolved the 130-member unicameral legislative body in 2019 that triggered constitutional crisis in the country. This led to parliamentary elections in January 2020. In the elections, Peru saw historic division of parties. In the end, no party received more than 11% vote in the elections.

Since the elections, Peruvian Congress had sought to remove Vizcarra from power. With Vizcarra gone, Manuel Merino, the Congress chief assumed presidency.

Peruvian Government

Peru is a unitary presidential democratic republic. It follows multi-party system.

• Unitary: It means the Central Government is ultimately supreme. India is unitary.
• Presidential: The President is the head of the government. He leads an executive branch separately. This is isolated from the legislative branch
• Representative Democracy: It is also called representative government or indirect democracy. Here the elected officials represent group of people. India, USA, Canada are representative democracies of the world.

Constitution of Peru

The current constitution of Peru was drafted and enacted in 1993 after the constitutional crisis in 1992. The current constitution gives more powers to the president.

Voting

Peru follows compulsory voting system. Meaning, if a citizen belonging to eligible age of voting (18-70 years) fails to cast his or her vote, he is punishable under law.

India-Peru

India and Peru established diplomatic relations in 1963. India’s interests in Peru increased after Peru became one of the fastest growing Latin American countries in 1990s.

Month: Current Affairs - November, 2020