Peru's Congress made a significant decision on Tuesday by voting to censure interim president Jose Jeri, ending his short time in office after just over four months. This unusual session took place while lawmakers were officially on break, and it resulted in 75 votes in favor of the censure, 24 against, and three abstentions. Jeri became president last October after Dina Boluarte was removed, making him the eighth leader of the South American country in just a decade. His censure comes just two months before national elections are set to occur. An alliance of a small leftist opposition and a group of right-wing parties pushed the motion, arguing that he was not “functionally suitable” to guide the country during this transition. Jeri's removal was also influenced by several corruption investigations initiated by the prosecutor's office. He is currently facing two major inquiries related to alleged influence peddling. The most serious scandal involved leaked video footage showing Jeri arriving late at night at a restaurant to meet Zhihua Yang, a Chinese businessman whose company had recently received government approval for a significant hydroelectric project. This secretive meeting, which was not included in the official presidential schedule, raised public concern, especially since Jeri appeared to be trying to hide his identity by wearing a hooded sweatshirt. The second investigation arose from a report by local media stating that five women close to the president had private meetings in his office until midnight. The report claimed that all five women later obtained lucrative government contracts. Although Jeri has denied any wrongdoing and called the investigations a "destabilization plot" by his political foes, his public approval ratings have significantly dropped.
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