With the second round of the presidential election looming, the Peruvian parliament has been threatening a vote of no confidence in the cabinet of Prime Minister Pedro-Pablo Kuczynski.
Bloomberg notes that Fernando Rospigliosi, a political analyst at the Institute of Peruvian Studies, has linked the threat to the presidential campaign, as the APRA party of one of the runoff contenders, Alán GarcÃa, is attempting to position itself as clearly opposed to incument President Alejandro Toledo.
The Apra needs to appear critical of the government to silence claims that Toledo backs Garcia’s candidacy.
Peru is the only Spanish (or Portuguese) speaking country in the Americas where it is constitutionally possible for the legislative majority to oust a full cabinet and its head in a no-confidence vote. (In other words, Peru does not have a presidential system, in the usually understood sense.)
GarcÃa leads most polls. As for the substance of the proposed no-confidence vote, as has been the case in various political conflicts in the region recently, it involves a gas distribution contract. (Peru is South America’s fifth largest gas producer.) [Full story]
