Peru’s Congress ousted Dina Boluarte for “moral incapacity.” José Jerí takes over as interim president amid scandals and deepening unrest.
Peru’s Congress ousted Dina Boluarte in an unexpected, lightning-fast vote that caught the country off guard.
The head of Congress, right-wing lawmaker José Jerí, assumed the presidency on an interim basis, becoming Peru’s seventh president in just nine years.
The move marks yet another chapter in the nation’s ongoing political turmoil, where no leader since 2016 has completed a full term.
Barely six months ahead of the April 2026 elections, no party had hinted at removing Boluarte. Yet within hours, four impeachment motions citing “permanent moral incapacity” passed with 122 votes from conservative parties that had long supported her. Lawmakers accused her of failing to tackle the country’s worsening crime crisis.
Boluarte took office in December 2022 after Pedro Castillo’s failed self-coup and arrest. Once his vice president, she became Peru’s first female head of state. Though she came from a leftist movement, she quickly aligned with the right-wing forces that dominated Congress.
Instead of calling early elections as demanded by mass protests that left over 50 dead, she sought to complete the term through July 2026.
Over nearly three years, Boluarte survived six previous impeachment attempts with right-wing backing. But her popularity collapsed—hovering around 3% approval. Accusations of human rights abuses, corruption, and indifference to public security eroded her already fragile support.
She now faces at least eleven criminal investigations. These include “Rolexgate,” for allegedly accepting luxury watches and gifts; claims she faked medical leave and forged signatures during recovery; and charges of aiding Vladimir Cerrón’s escape.
Congress repeatedly shielded her, even curbing prosecutorial powers through controversial Constitutional Court rulings.
The final trigger was the country’s spiraling crime wave. A shooting at a Lima concert that injured four performers and a citywide transport strike over killings and extortion of bus drivers inflamed public outrage. Youth-led protests—the so-called “Generation Z movement”—became the symbol of growing frustration with her government’s paralysis.
As the 2026 elections neared, her conservative allies abandoned her to distance themselves from her unpopularity. Political heavyweights like Keiko Fujimori and Lima’s mayor, Rafael López Aliaga, both presidential hopefuls, joined the push to oust her.
The new interim president, José Jerí, a 38-year-old lawyer and congressman, had been speaker of Congress until Boluarte’s removal. His record is modest but controversial—he was accused of sexual assault earlier this year, in a case later dismissed.
Jerí must now lead a fractured nation toward elections. Public trust in both the executive and Congress is almost nonexistent, with approval ratings near historic lows. Peruvians see both branches as self-serving and disconnected from citizens’ needs.
Meanwhile, Dina Boluarte’s whereabouts remain unknown. She refused to attend Congress, gave a televised address accepting her removal, and left the presidential palace under escort. All channels—including state TV—abruptly cut her speech, during which she no longer wore the presidential sash.
Her lawyer insists she is not fleeing or seeking asylum, though reports suggest she considered refuge in Argentina, Brazil, or Ecuador.
