First impeachment process against Martín Vizcarra

Martín Vizcarra was elected as First Vice President of Peru in a 2016 general election, running with Pedro Pablo Kuczynski of the Peruanos Por el Kambio party. On 23 March 2018, Vizcarra was sworn into office as president of Peru following the resignation of President Kuczynski.[1][2] Upon being sworn into office, Vizcarra stated "we've had enough", vowing to combat corruption as president.[3]

Throughout Vizcarra's tenure, he faced opposition from the Congress of Peru.[4] He initially faced opposition from the Fujimorist congress when pushing for the constitutional referendum in 2018, an election that resulted with laws prohibiting the private funding of political campaigns and a ban on reelecting lawmakers.[5][6][7] Into 2019, the Fujimorist congress continued to delay Vizcarra's reforms, with Vizcarra later dissolving the congress after instituting a motion of no confidence, saying it was "clear the democracy of our nation is at risk".[8][9]

A legislative election was held later on 26 January 2020 which replaced the dissolved congress, with centrist parties replacing the Fujimorist majority in congress.[10] Analysts Diego Pereira and Lucila Barbeito of JPMorgan Chase & Co described the new congress as being "even more antagonistic to the [Vizcarra] government than the previous one"[11] while Americas Quarterly wrote that the four main right-wing parties of congress – Alliance for Progress, Podemos Perú, Popular Action and Union for Peru – feared Vizcarra's anti-corruption measures on campaign financing, political transparency and the participation of convicted persons in government.[12]

As Peru's economy declined due to the COVID-19 pandemic in Peru, Vizcarra faced increased political pressure from the newly inaugurated congress presided by Manuel Merino, with the majority of the legislative body being controlled by those opposing Vizcarra.[11] Finally on 5 July 2020, Vizcarra proposed a referendum to be held during the 2021 Peruvian general election to remove parliamentary immunity,[13] though congress quickly responded by assembling that same night to pass their own immunity bill that contained proposals to remove immunity from the president, constitutional court and the human rights ombudsman while also strengthening some instances of parliamentary immunity.[14]

Since early 2020, investigations began surrounding a contract for a little-known singer by the name of Richard Cisneros to perform speeches for the Ministry of Culture.[11] It was alleged that an inexperienced Cisneros was able to receive payments totaling US$50,000 due to contacts in the Government Palace.[11] Investigators searched offices in the Government Palace on 1 June 2020 regarding the alleged irregularities.[11]

On 10 September 2020, opposition lawmaker Edgar Alarcon, who faced possible parliamentary immunity revocation related to alleged acts of corruption, released audio recordings purporting that Vizcarra acted with "moral incapacity".[15][16] The recordings allegedly contain audio of Vizcarra instructing his staff to say that he met with Cisneros only on a limited number of occasions and audio of Cisneros saying that he influenced Vizcarra's rise to office and decision to dissolve congress.[15][16]

Vizcarra responded to the release of the recordings stating "I am not going to resign. I am not running away" and that the "audios have been edited and maliciously manipulated; as you can see, they purposely seek to turn a job-related claim into a criminal or political act, wanting to take words out of context and intend to accuse me of non-existent situations. Nothing is further from reality".[16]

In a vote on 11 September 2020, impeachment proceedings against Vizcarra were approved by congress; 65 voted for, 36 voted against and 24 abstained.[11]

President of Congress Manuel Merino was criticized by critics regarding how he hastily pushed for impeachment proceedings against Vizcarra.[12] If Vizcarra were to be removed from office, Merino would assume the presidential office given his position in congress and due to the absence of vice presidents for Vizcarra.[lower-alpha 1][12]

On 12 September 2020, renowned reporter Gustavo Gorriti wrote that Merino had contacted the Commanding General of the Peruvian Navy, Fernando Cerdán, notifying him that he was going to attempt to impeach Vizcarra and was hoping to assume the presidency.[25] Minister of Defense Jorge Chávez confirmed that Merino had tried to establish support with the Peruvian military.[25] A second report was later released that Merino had contacted officials throughout Peru's government while preparing to create a transitional cabinet.[12][26] Following the release of these reports, support for impeaching Vizcarra decreased among members of congress.[12]

On 14 September, President Vizcarra filed a lawsuit in the Constitutional Court of Peru to block the 18 September impeachment vote, stating to during a press conference, "Why has the president of Congress communicated with top military officials, and even planned pseudo-cabinets who would take over? That is conspiracy, gentlemen."[27] Minister of Foreign Affairs Mario Lopez also released a statement that Vizcarra's government had prepared to call upon the Organization of American States' Inter-American Democratic Charter if Vizcarra were to be impeached, with the charter stating "when the government of a member state considers that its democratic political institutional process or its legitimate exercise of power is at risk, it may request assistance from the Secretary General or the Permanent Council for the strengthening and preservation of its democratic system".[28]

On 18 September, Vizcarra gave a speech for twenty minutes after appearing before congress. Following ten hours of deliberation, 32 members of congress supported the motion to remove Vizcarra from the office of the presidency, 78 voted against his removal and 15 abstained from voting, with 87 votes of 130 being required for his removal.[29][30]