Eighty percent of Peruvians want elections if President is removed from office, according to poll

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – Eighty percent of Peruvians consider that the most convenient thing for the country would be to call general elections in case the president of Peru, Pedro Castillo, is removed from office in the motion of vacancy that will be debated in Congress tomorrow, according to a poll published this Sunday.

The poll prepared by Instituto de Estudios Peruano (IEP) for the newspaper La República shows that 9% of those polled think that the vice president, Dina Boluarte, should be the one to take over as head of state in case Castillo is removed from office, and 5% think that only presidential elections should be called and congress members should be kept.

Half of the respondents favor deposing Castillo, compared to 47.5% who would choose to approve it if they had to vote in the vacancy debate.

The president’s disapproval index rose to 68%, 5 points higher than that registered in February and represents the highest value in his eight months in office, while 24% of Peruvians approve of him.

Castillo’s acceptance is higher outside Metropolitan Lima, especially among Peruvians living in the highlands and leftist men between 25 and 39 years old interested in politics.

On the other hand, his disapproval is more frequent among urban women and women under 40.

Seventy-one percent of those surveyed believe that the president will not finish his term in office, which has risen compared to the 58% recorded in December 202.

Among the reasons they believe he will not be able to finish, 63% argue “his inability to govern” and 33% “because they do not let him govern”.

The study shows that between April 2021 and March 2022, the percentage of people who identified themselves with the right grew from 31% to 39%, unlike what happens with the left, since the figure went from 35% to the current 24%.

The poll’s margin of error, for which 1,201 people were interviewed by telephone between March 21 and 24, is 2.8 percentage points.

The survey includes the opinions of Peruvians from the 24 departments that make up the country.

With information from EFE