Peruvian lawmakers have announced that Vice President Dina Boluarte will be sworn in as the new President of Peru following the ouster of President Pedro Castillo. Castillo was dramatically voted out after attempting to dissolve the legislative body and install an emergency government.
Congress began its session on Wednesday with lawmakers singing the national anthem. A majority of 101 lawmakers in the 130-person congress voted to impeach Castillo.
Francisco Morales, the president of Peru’s Constitutional Court, advised Boluarte to assume the presidency in a speech prior to the congressional vote. The Constitutional Court described the President’s action as a coup.
Boluarte on Twitter also criticised Castillo’s dissolution plan. “I reject Pedro Castillo’s decision to perpetrate the breakdown of the constitutional order with the closure of Congress,” she tweeted. “It is a coup that aggravates the political and institutional crisis that Peruvian society will have to overcome with strict adherence to the law.”
Following the impeachment, seven cabinet ministers resigned. The ministers include Minister of Environment Wilbert Rozas, Justice Minister Felix Chero, Finance Minister Kurt Burneo, and Foreign Relations Minister Cesar Landa.
The Peruvian police have arrested Castillo few hours after Boluarte was sworn in. She will be the sixth president of the politically volatile nation since the start of 2018, and the first woman to be head of state.