Sawt Falasteen - Peru opens impeachment debate against President Castillo

"I am subject to democratic due process... (and) I will always squarely face the nation," Castillo said at the opening of his hearing.

It is already the second time in his eight months as Peru's leader that Castillo has faced an impeachment process in a country with a recent history of ousting its presidents.

It is the sixth time since 2017 that Congress has opened impeachment proceedings against a sitting president.

The right-wing Pedro Pablo Kuczynski survived one but resigned in 2018 before Congress opened a second debate.

Centrist Martin Vizcarra also survived one attempt to remove him before he was finally ousted in 2020.

Castillo faced a similar impeachment attempt in December and has been under fire from the opposition and certain sections of the media.

Although the conservative opposition dominates Congress, it does not have a sufficient majority to force Castillo out on its own.

The opposition can count on 80 members of the 130-seat lower house compared to just 50 for the governing Free Peru party and its allies, but 87 votes are needed to remove Castillo.

"To be honest we don't have the votes, we have approximately 76," admitted Norma Yarrow, from the right-wing Advance Country party that sponsored the impeachment move.

- 'Invalid accusations' -

The opposition accuses the former rural school teacher of moral incapacity and tolerating alleged corruption in his inner circle.

He has also come under fire for his repeated ministerial crises that has seen him forced into naming four cabinets already.

The session began just after 3:00 pm (2000 GMT) with a speech by Castillo, who had an hour to answer the accusations he faces.

The impeachment proceeding "does not contain a single element that validly supports" the accusation of moral incapacity, said Castillo.

The debate, in which Castillo will be absent and represented by his lawyer, is due to last at least four hours.

The vote will take place on Monday.

If he is removed, Castillo's Vice President Dina Boluarte would assume the mantle.

Ever since his razor-tight election runoff victory against right-wing populist Keiko Fujimori, Castillo has faced accusations of fraud.

Impeachment proceedings are relatively common in Peru because its constitution allows for one to be brought against a president based on the subjective issue of political rather than legal wrongdoing.

And given the Peruvian president rarely has a majority in Congress, a disgruntled opposition is often in a position of strength regarding the future of the top elected official in the land.

It has created so much political instability that Peru even had three separate presidents within the space of one week in November 2020.

Castillo has received support from fellow leftist governments in Latin America while the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights criticized the charge of moral incapacity saying that there was "no objective definition" of it.

Castillo's rating is at 66 percent, although that is not as bad as the 70 percent rejection rating of Congress, according to pollsters Ipsos.

L.AbuAli--SF-PST