Sao Paulo, Brazil – José Maria Balcázar was elected president of Peru’s parliament on Wednesday and will head a transitional government after José Jerí was ousted.
Balcazar, 83, defeated Maria del Carmen Alba in the parliamentary runoff election, winning 60 of 113 votes. He will serve as head of state until April 12, when Peru heads to the polls to elect a new president.
Balcazar, of the left-wing Peru Libre (Free Peru) party, became the country’s ninth president after a decade marred by extreme political instability.
In his first speech to parliament as the new head of state, Balcazar said he would “guarantee the Peruvian people that there will be a peaceful and transparent democratic and electoral transition without any doubt about the elections.”
peruvian newspaper commerce Balcázar reportedly promised to pardon former President Pedro Castillo to secure the votes he needed. Last November, Castillo was sentenced to more than 11 years in prison for attempting to dissolve Congress and rule by decree in 2022.
Read more: Peruvian Supreme Court sentences former President Pedro Castillo to more than 11 years in prison for failed 2022 autonomous coup
But Balcazar told Peruvian media: RPP Amnesty is “not on the agenda.”
“He has an ongoing criminal case,” the new president added.
Balcazar is currently being investigated for a series of crimes, including embezzlement and fraud. The 13 charges also include illegal acts committed while he was serving as interim Supreme Court Justice.
The decision to elect Balcazar was met with considerable criticism in the Peruvian media because of his support for child marriage.
In June 2023, Balcazar was the only lawmaker to abstain from voting on a bill to end child marriage. He argued before Congress that “early sexual intercourse is beneficial to a woman’s future psychology.”
Before 2023, Peruvian children under the age of 14 could legally marry.
Later that year, Balcazar also said that it was normal for teachers to have sex with students, sparking criticism from Peru’s Ministry of Women and Vulnerable Populations.
José Jerí, who seized power last October after Dina Boluarte was ousted, was impeached by Peru’s parliament on Tuesday.
Jerí has been at the center of a scandal surrounding secret meetings with Zhihua Yang, a Chinese business executive who received state concessions, sparking allegations of abuse of influence.
He is one of four Peruvian presidents to have been impeached and removed from power in the past decade.
Read more:Peruvian Congress ousts President José Jerry
Featured image: José Maria Balcázar is elected interim president of Peru.
Image source: Parliament of the Republic of Peru
