Peru's President Vizcarra faces impeachment trial (yet again)

Peru's President Martín Vizcarra faces an impeachment trial on Monday over corruption allegations, familiar terrain for the centrist leader of the Andean nation, who survived a previous vote to oust him in September and an attempt to suspend him in 2019. Vizcarra, 57, is expected to survive once again, though the independent - who has long campaigned against official graft - lacks a party in a fragmented Congress, creating a degree of uncertainty of how lawmakers may finally vote.

Peru's President Martín Vizcarra faces an impeachment trial on Monday over corruption allegations, familiar terrain for the centrist leader of the Andean nation, who survived a previous vote to oust him in September and an attempt to suspend him in 2019.

Vizcarra, 57, is expected to survive once again, though the independent - who has long campaigned against official graft - lacks a party in a fragmented Congress, creating a degree of uncertainty of how lawmakers may finally vote. The copper-producing nation has had a history of political upheaval and drama.

To remove the president, Congress must gather 87 votes out of 130 legislators. In the September vote, only 32 in the chamber voted in favor of his ouster. Vizcarra has denied as "baseless" allegations that he accepted bribes from companies that won public works contracts when he was the governor of the southern region of Moquegua. He has accused Congress of "playing with democracy."

"In the last few weeks, I have been systematically attacked, through the dissemination of reports whose main objective is to damage the trust that the Peruvian people have placed in me," Vizcarra said in a statement late on Sunday. "This constitutes a new attempt to generate political instability in the country," said the president, who must present his defense at around 10 a.m. local time (1500 GMT).

Vizcarra's term runs out mid next year after elections planned for April 11, in which he is not eligible to run. If Vizcarra is dismissed on grounds of "moral incapacity," the head of Congress, Manuel Merino, would assume the presidency.

Already reeling from the impact of the coronavirus pandemic, Peruvian business groups have called for "prudence." "It is necessary to prioritize stability and calm; a drastic change in the leadership of the nation would not be the most convenient at this juncture," the powerful corporate body CONFIEP said in a statement.