Latin Analysis: Why does Peru keep exchanging presidents?

LUKA GONZALES/AFP

The latest Peruvian president, Manuel Merino, recently broke a record as one of the leaders with the shortest time as a head of state. Indeed, Merino was only in power for less than a week, as he had been appointed the new president on November 10th and he left office 5 days later. Nevertheless, a quick resignation and change of president is not a rare phenomenon in Peru, as this country has had 3 presidents in less than 4 years.

Corruption Scandals

Manuel Merino, who was the former president of the Peruvian Parliament, had been designated as president to replace Martín Alberto Vizcarra, who had similarly become president to replace the former head of state Pedro Pablo Kuczynski. The latter was originally elected to be president in 2016; however, he left office because he was found guilty of corruption-related crimes. He is now serving house arrest for “influence peddling” with construction companies, which included the firm Odebrecht. This matter was particularly scandalous because the organization has been recognized within the Latin America region as one of the most corrupt ones, due to the numerous cases in which managers have been involved in crimes of the sort. Hence, relating the former president with the firm was a salient element that contributed to the end of his presidency.

Henceforth, Vizcarra replaced Kuczynski in 2018, and, given the polemic situation of his predecessor, he strongly committed to focusing his administration on the “fight against corruption” such that he called for a referendum to elect new congress members. Many political experts call this decision one of Vizcarra’s biggest mistakes, as the new congressmen and congresswomen were mostly from opposing parties. This was particularly worrying considering Peru’s political system, as the congress has the power of destitution the president simply if the majority of its members vote in favor of it.

Given Vizcarra’s political efforts to fight corruption in Peru, he became widely approved by Peruvians. This was so much so, that the last polls showed that he had an approval rate of 60% - 80%, which is very uncommon for a Latin American head of state. Thus, for almost 2 years, Peru re-gained its economic and political stability. Yet, this came to an end during the ongoing year, as the former president was accused of the same crimes than those of his predecessor: bribery and corruption with construction companies. He faced one first impeachment that resulted in declaring him innocent. Nevertheless, a second trial was requested to take place that resulted in the opposite outcome. Hence, the Congress declared him “morally incapable” to continue to rule the country and voted him out of office. Even when Vizcarra keeps stating that he is innocent, he was displaced and then replaced by Manuel Merino. 

Political Rivalry

During and after the two impeachment processes, the people of Peru protested in the streets all across the country. Peruvians stated that they believed in the innocence of their then-president Vizcarra. Media and political experts had signaled that this phenomenon could very well be a strategy created by Merino, as he was the leader of the opposition party, president of the Congress, and presidential replacement of Vizcarra.

Similarly, experts have stated that there was not enough proof that the corruption accusations were true, as the testimonies presented as evidence were not shown for public scrutiny. Hence, many analysts and the civil society called this a coup d’état, consequence of a political rivalry between Vizcarra and Merino. Yet, even when the latter politician became the president, the protests became ever more intense in Peru. Thousands of people kept striking to demand the Congress to reconsider the verdict and to defend the innocence of Vizcarra. Nevertheless, the protests became so violent and intense, that police forces were sent to “control” the protestors. As a result, two people were killed by cops and hundredths were harmed, which is what ultimately caused Merino to resign his position after only 5 days of being president. To date, the congress is still deciding on a new president to take over Merino until new elections take place in 2021, which will be the fourth president to become head of state in the last 4 years.

This is a situation that greatly aggravates the economic and social development prospects for the country, that have been also greatly affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. Nevertheless, many scholars have claimed that Peru is a “democratic miracle” because, despite its frequent political instability, its democracy remains (even if it has been weakened). Moreover, it has been signaled by experts that this is an opportunity for the Peruvian politicians to re-evaluate their system (shared only with Venezuela and Ecuador), as its high reliance on a sole congress – inspired on the parliamentary scheme of the European Union, created to avoid having authoritarian presidents – has made it “easier to kick out a president than a mayor”. This, evidently, has intensified the political fight amidst parties for power and has highly risen the overall social unrest, which results in less international investor’s trust and less economic predictability. That is to say, it has had the opposite effect than that it had intended in the first place.

Without a doubt, this has been a rough period for Peru, as corruption scandals have harmed its stability (arguably) more than its Latin American fellow countries. Yet, analysts have called this phenomenon a moment of “inflection” and a unique opportunity for Peruvians to reform their current political scheme to strengthen their democracy, such that the cycle of destitution and re-appointment of presidents can stop and the country can gain more control over political and social affairs, as well as over the pandemic national crisis. Nowadays, the future of Peru is at stake, but it is presented with a new opportunity for modernization and strengthening of its current weak democracy. However, it is yet to see if the congress and the newly appointed president will want to transform the system that the country used for many years.