Peru’s Congress dismissed the country’s interim president, the conservative José Jerí, this Tuesday, after just four months in office and less than two months before the general elections. According to CNN, the now former president was accused of influence peddling for having held meetings outside the official agenda with a Chinese businessman. The decision is the eighth presidential change that the country has experienced in almost a decade of political instability, which began after the 2016 elections.
According to CNN, Jerí was the target of a motion of censure, which requires the vote of 66 of the 130 parliamentarians, or just a simple majority of parliamentarians present, if the session has a lower quorum. This Tuesday’s motion received 75 votes in favor, 24 against and three abstentions; the defense of the now former president stated that he should have been impeached (which would require a supermajority of 87 votes), but that he would respect Congress’ decision. It is now up to the Peruvian Legislature to choose the next interim president, who will complete the current term until the inauguration of the winner of the election scheduled for April 12th.
The last two Peruvian presidents elected did not complete their term
Jerí temporarily assumed the presidency in place of Dina Boluarte, deposed by Congress in October 2025 due to her “moral inability” to deal with the public security crisis in the country. Dina was the vice-president of Pedro Castillo, the leftist elected in 2021 and who attempted a failed self-coup in 2022, being dismissed and arrested. The instability, however, comes from the previous mandate. Elected in 2016, Pedro Paulo Kuczynski resigned in 2018, involved in a scandal with the Brazilian construction company Odebrecht; his vice, Martín Vizcarra, was also accused of corruption and was impeached in 2020. With no more vices, it was up to the president of Congress, Manuel Merino, to assume the presidency, but he only lasted five days and was replaced by Francisco Sagasti, who completed his term and handed power to Castillo.
The last elected Peruvian president to complete his term, Ollanta Humala (2011-2016), is in prison for corruption, as was his predecessor Alejandro Toledo (2006-2011). Humala’s wife, Nadine Heredia, was also convicted in the “Peruvian version” of Operation Lava Jato, but asked for and was granted asylum in Brazil, taking refuge in the Brazilian embassy in Lima to avoid being taken to jail – the Lula government sent a Brazilian Air Force plane to take her out of Peru.
