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Peru Congress to debate impeachment of interim president on Tuesday / Photo: Renato Pajuelo - AFP/File
Peru Congress to debate impeachment of interim president on Tuesday
Peru's Congress will debate a motion to impeach interim president Jose Jeri next week, the head of the legislature said Friday, after the opposition garnered the 78 signatures needed to launch the proceedings.
Jeri, in power since October, faces up to seven censure motions brought by the left-wing opposition and a right-wing bloc for "misconduct and lack of suitability" to lead the South American country.
The impeachment motion will be debated on Tuesday, interim Congress chief Fernando Rospigliosi said.
Jeri, a former leader of the congress, succeeded the hugely unpopular Dina Boluarte after her impeachment last October.
His woes have been piling up for weeks.
A first probe was opened in January over his secret meeting with a Chinese businessman who won government tenders.
A new investigation stems from a Peruvian TV report, which said five young women were appointed to the president's office and the environment ministry after they met with Jeri late last year.
The probe spearheaded by the attorney general's office aims to determine "whether the president exerted undue influence" in the appointments of the women between October and January.
Prosecutors said Jeri was suspected of pushing the irregular hiring of nine women in total.
The presidency described the report as "malicious and biased" and an attack on "the dignity and good name" of the women.
Peru is experiencing a prolonged political crisis, which has seen it burn through seven presidents since 2016.
The country will hold general elections in April.
Jeri is not running for president.
P.M.Martin--SMC
