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Peru: Constitutional Court admits competence claim over presidential impeachment motion

13:07 | Lima, Sep. 17.

At a plenary session, the Constitutional Court (TC) on Thursday admitted the competence claim filed by the Executive Branch in response to the impeachment motion —brought by a sector of Congress— against President Martin Vizcarra.


According to Constitutional Court (TC) Chairwoman Marianella Ledesma, the decision on the competence claim received 6 votes in favor and 1 against, while the precautionary measure was rejected by a 5-2 vote.

Regarding the competence claim, she said it will be notified to the Congress Attorney's Office, which will be given a deadline to reply.

The dates for the presentation of oral reports and the sentence will be determined after that. 

"I estimate that everything will be completed in two months," she pointed out.

As for the precautionary measure, which was intended to suspend the impeachment process, Ledesma affirmed that its rejection responded to the fact that the Court did not see an urgent need to do so.

The TC Chairwoman remarked that, "in light of the statements made by the main political parties' leaders at Congress" affirming that they would not support the impeachment motion, the risk of this happening has weakened.

"There is no urgent, imminent, or irreparable situation that may arise (...) I see no reason not to believe the political leaders who take a position," she added.

Judges Augusto Ferrero, Manuel Miranda, Ernesto Blume, Jose Luis Sardon and Ledesma herself rejected the precautionary measure.

For their part, Eloy Espinosa-Saldaña and Carlos Ramos considered that it should proceed.

When asked about her proposal to raise the votes to approve a presidential impeachment motion from 87 to 104, Ledesma confirmed that the initiative did not succeed. 

"They did not support the exhortation because it was noted that it should be included in the sentence (...). It was premature at the moment," she added.

(END) VVS/CVC/RMB/MVB

Published: 9/17/2020