Peruvian Congress president removed from office after leaked audios

Peru’s Congress passed a motion of no confidence in its president, Lady Camones, by 61 votes on Monday, after which she was declared vacant of the office she has held since July 26 for the period 2022-2023.

The motion, which 23 deputies from the leftist parties supported, was approved with 47 votes against and five abstentions and came about after audio recordings surfaced in which the deputy appears to be talking to the leader of her party about a law he wants her to pass.

According to a journalistic investigation by “Epicentro TV,” the leader of the party she represents, César Acuña, instructed her and other members of the Alianza para el Progreso bank to expedite a law to create the Alto Trujillo district in the La Libertad (North) region.

This is to favor his candidacy for governor of that department in the regional and municipal elections that will be held in this South American country on Oct. 2.

According to the document approved today by the deputies, the “personal and direct” conversation explicitly shows how she “explains to him the work she is carrying out in this branch of government and reveals the strategy she is following to favor Mr. César Acuña.”

In this sense, they claim that Camones committed the alleged crimes of usurpation of office, illegal sponsorship, and influence.

The text adds that the leaked audios are “sufficient evidence” for the configuration of the crimes described above, especially because she “acknowledged” to the press that this conversation “actually took place, but that it was recorded ‘illegally.'”

After the contents of the audios became known, the Peruvian government considered that Camones, as well as all the members of the parliamentary body, should resign and asked the Public Prosecutor’s Office to open an investigation.

Peruvian Prime Minister Aníbal Torres called on Congress members to “solve this problem” that arose in the Board of Directors and urged Trujillo’s electoral jury to “separate candidate Acuña.”

For its part, the Special Electoral Jury (JEE) of Central Lima ordered the collection of information on the audios to assess whether the former president of the Legislature violated the principle of electoral neutrality.

In this regard, it gave Camones one calendar day to present her defense on the said material “under threat of acquittal.”

Following the dismissal of Lady Camones, the first vice president of the Legislature, Martha Moyano, a member of the pro-Fujimori party, has taken her place and will remain in office until new elections are held for the executive office.