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Peru: Congress renews confidence in Prime Minister's Cabinet

22:01 | Lima, Sep. 19.

Peru's opposition-led Congress on Wednesday night delivered a vote of confidence in the Cabinet led by Prime Minister Cesar Villanueva.

Lawmakers passed it with 82 votes in favor, 22 against, and 14 abstentions.

Villanueva's presentation began at 9:00 AM (local time) and was followed by a long debate among legislators at the plenary session.

The aim was to request a confidence vote linked to political-justice reforms proposed by the Executive Branch —more than one month ago— and aimed to be subject to referendum later this year.

Last Sunday, President Martin Vizcarra introduced a confidence motion to Congress and asked Parliament to approve the said reform bills aimed at fighting corruption.

In this sense, the Head of State called for an extraordinary legislature session to address the matter on September 19.

Since July, the release of audios containing unethical phone conversations that involved judges, entrepreneurs, and National Council of the Magistracy (CNM) members led to a scandal in the justice system.

Thus, the Vizcarra administration intends to implement a positive change in Peru by fighting this scourge.

According to the Head of State, the Congress' delay in approving the projects led his administration to introduce the aforementioned confidence motion.

Last Tuesday, Parliament managed to approve the National Council of the Magistracy (CNM) reform project. The CNM has been renamed National Justice Board.

It is worth mentioning the Peruvian Constitution allows an acting President to close Congress and call for new legislative elections if Parliament dismisses two cabinets. The current Congress had already granted a no-confidence vote to a former cabinet.

Earlier, in his presentation, Villanueva assured the confidence motion was not a threat, but a tool used within the constitutional framework.

(END) DTK/RMB/MVB

Publicado: 19/9/2018